You can’t save the economy without protecting the people

One of the lessons from the awful experience of Covid in the UK over the past 16 months is that there is no simple trade-off between boosting economic recovery and protecting public health, writes Phil Thornton

Rising numbers of cases could lead to a lack of consumer confidence (AFP via Getty Images)

In a week’s time, we will finally emerge from our 16-month mask-wearing lockdown. It is hardly surprising that many people are determined to celebrate as if it were the end of a war — VC (Victory over Covid) Day perhaps, instead of the VE Day and VJ Day of 1945.

But in this case, the war is not over. More than 150,000 people have died, and as many as 1 million people are suffering from long Covid. On top of that, about 30,000 people are catching Covid-19 every day — a figure that the health secretary, Sajid Javid, has said could rise to 100,000 over the summer.

In fact, since Javid moved into the hot seat at the Department of Health and Social Care on 26 June, some 410,000 new cases of Covid-19 have been recorded, and 336 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for the virus. Are we really celebrating victory while only two-thirds of Britons have been vaccinated twice, and almost none who are under 18?