Suspicious Calls For Digital ID To Prove Coronavirus Status, Way Out of Lockdown

'You can create a digital ID today that is much more easily protected so you can deal with a lot of the privacy and surveillance issues that worry people,'

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has broken his silence on COVID-19 and proposes the use of 'digital ID' so that people can prove their coronavirus status. The former Prime Minister was speaking at Virtual CogX technology conference.

Mr. Blair served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 and 2007, becoming the only Labour leader in the party’s 100 year history to win three consecutive elections. In doing so he redefined modern, progressive politics.

According to Daily Mail report Mr Blair said that only if people can show easily whether they are clear of coronavirus will industries like international travel be able to restart.   

Mr Blair suggested that such a system would operate alongside track and trace programmes as the economy reopens. He went on to say that digital ID was a 'natural' evolution to navigate our daily life.

Blair previously called for a mass testing programme which will ensure that the bulk of UK population gets checked for COVID-19. According to Blair, only massive testing will prevent the second outbreak of coronavirus. 

'You can create a digital ID today that is much more easily protected so you can deal with a lot of the privacy and surveillance issues that worry people,' he said on Tuesday. 

'It is a natural evolution of the way that we are going to use technology in any event to transact daily life and this Covid crisis gives an additional reason for doing that. 

'I think people's disease status - have they been tested, what is the result of that test and have they had the disease, do they have the disease - unless you are able to record some of this data in a way people can use, it is going to be difficult to go back to anything like a near normal in things like transport.

'If you are going to start international travel again, how can you do that unless people can be easily tested and have some record of that test? 'There has always been a good case for introducing some form of digital ID but I think that case is even more powerful today,' Blair said.