Parts of the UK which are not introducing vaccine passport "must thing of another way" to increase vaccination rates and drive Covid cases down, according to an expert in population health.

Tim Spector, a professor of genetic epidemiology at King's College London, said Scotland's Covid rates had come down faster than other parts of the UK and said the country also had some of the highest rates of vaccinations.

The Scottish Government has delayed the introduction of passports until October 19 which will means nightclubs and large events are only able to allow entry to people who can show they have had two doses of a Covid vaccine.

Prof Spector, who fronts the ZOE Covid symptom tracker app, said he was against the measure in the Summer "because I didn't think we would need them".

Research carried out by the team on social media found an overwhelming majority in the UK were against the introduction of vaccine passports.

He said: “Scotland’s rates have come down the fastest and it also has some of the highest rates of vaccination in the UK.

"At least 85% in most regions and Wales and Scotland are really the only two areas which have maintained some form of social distancing and mask wearing as well as some degree of vaccine certification.

READ MORE: Scotland records more than 2700 new Covid cases and 32 deaths in past 24 hours

“It’s early days but we did a couple of polls and we had over 43,000 people voting on Twitter and the results were a convincing no – 87% said no and 13% said yes. On Facebook, initially it was completely reversed until I tweeted about it and in the last 48 hours that has been reversed as well.

“I think you can’t generalise from social media polls – they don’t usually represent the wider population but it shows there is a lot of disagreement out there and a fear about introducing them.

"We will have to see what happens in Scotland and Wales but I think it’s worth looking at the international scene to see how other countries have managed to get their cases and hospitalisations down, using these routes.

Countries which have introduced some form of certification include Belgium, Ireland, France and Italy.

“What we do see those countries have a much higher rate of vaccination and we are slipping back. Denmark interesting launched a vaccine passport and now that is has 80% of people vaccinated it has relaxed those rules.

“Our population is still only 60% vaccinated and single shots are offering very little protection against the Delta variant.

READ MORE: Two doses of one vaccine provides 95% protection after Covid infection, study shows 

"Israel is a good example of country which introduced a vaccine passport and their rates of infection are now lower than ours.”

Prof Spector said the fact that the Westminster government was reluctant to maintain other basic measures such as mask wearing and social distancing meant "we may have to think of other options and you do run out of these ones".

He said: "The mindset is there is one magic bullet that is going to cure us – none of these on their own are going to do that. You do need all of these and public awareness of symptoms and home testing before you go into the office or school.

“I think it’s still important we continue to wash our hands and wear masks. We do need to find a way to increase vaccination rates as we go into winter.

"“As we creep towards the two year mark of this pandemic, it’s important to note that we still have Covid rates that are too high, we have long Covid rates that are too high and although hospitalisations are relatively few, we are not out of the woods yet.

"In a way this idea of herd immunity and the power of being infected, meaning you don’t get it again has pervaded a lot of our thinking around Covid and I think a lot of our mistakes."

He said the total number of UK cases had increased slightly from last week at 70,000, and included 18,800 who have been fully vaccinated.

“The deaths averaged at around 972 last week, which is around 139 a day and slightly down from last week. Long Covid has gone up a bit at about 1100 people estimated to getting it every day and hospitalisations have gone up slightly to 776 a day.

READ MORE: Scotland's vaccine passports: When will I need to show it 

“747 people are actually very sick and on ventilators. These are the highest rates we’ve seen since the winter in January.

"Most of these cases are still in the under 18s and we have been seeing for the past few weeks but some good news if you look at the age graphs we have seen a decline from that peak and although it would be nice to think that’s vaccination but it's happened before that’s really had time to effect and the vaccination programme has been very slow in kids."

He said it was worrying that rates are increasing in the 35 to 50 age bracket.

“These are the parents now getting infected. At the moment the other groups are staying pretty steady and haven’t yet been affected.

“We are seeing a levelling off of those increases in most areas and the notably exception is the decline that has carried on in Scotland consistently. Wales looks as if it’s going down nicely too butwe have yet to see those changes in the rest of England.”