Boris Johnson’s optimism will lead the UK into a third wave of coronavirus

A precautionary approach does not wait for unambiguous data before taking action to mitigate risks, it takes action while waiting for the scientific evidence to catch up with the virus, writes Dr Simon Williams

‘The UK government was too slow to react to the first wave, despite a number of scientists warning of the need to lock down earlier’ (PA)

Yet again the UK government has waited too long to take precautionary measures.

Despite the leaders of the four nations meeting this week for a coronavirus recovery summit, the gulf between their approaches to stemming the tide of the third wave is as wide as ever. Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon announced a “slight slowing down” of the planned easing of restrictions, while Wales’ first minister Mark Drakeford announced a “phased” approach to entering alert level one.

Most significantly, the Welsh government has decided not to introduce the “rule of six” which allows up to six people to meet in private homes – a decision they will review on the 21 June.  This is of course the same, now infamous, date that the UK government has earmarked for the possible removal of all legal limits on social contact.