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The Prime Minister hit the headlines on Wednesday when he suggested that he had no problem with pub landlords demanding proof from drinkers that they had been vaccinated against Covid 19. Despite the Prime Minister attracting fierce criticism with his suggestion, it would appear the Government is now considering extending Covid checks to other areas of public life, as revealed by The Daily Telegraph. Those who support the idea of vaccine passports argue they will expedite the relaxation of social distancing rules, allowing businesses to get back on their feet again and life to return to a semblance of normality. The measures are controversial as they would require millions of UK citizens to show their private medical details in order to carry out everyday activities. A Government source told the Telegraph: "If we didn’t even consider this stuff we would be throwing away the advantage we’ve created for ourselves with the Covid vaccine rollout. “This isn’t the first thing we would have reached for but we’ve had to do a lot of difficult things recently.” Ministers are considering using the NHS Covid-19 contact tracing app, or developing something similar that is able to produce a scannable QR code, showing a person is Covid safe. Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, is believed by Government insiders to be a keen supporter of the Covid status certificate scheme. He has been impressed by the success of a similar system that has been introduced in Israel. Mr Gove told Parliament that he backed the idea of Covid checks that took account of “vaccine status but also of recent test status and indeed potentially also antibody status as well”. Number 10 is sensitive to issues of personal data protection and is trying to strike a difficult balance between opening up the economy more quickly, while at the same time not being discriminative and intrusive. The Government's plans attracted praise from some industry leaders. Chris Naylor, the chairman of the UK Weddings Taskforce industry group, told the Daily Telegraph: "“I think anything that gets us back open is worth looking at. "I’m not a big fan of Covid passports for pubs, but I’m a business owner. I need us to get open." However, top scientist Sir Jeremy Farrar said it “crosses that line of individual freedoms and public health”, calling for policies based on “persuasion and engagement” instead.