The path to normality may be delayed – but caution now will save lives

Editorial: The lesson of the last year is that unlocking too early means a more severe and longer lockdown later on

People queue for the vaccination centre at the Essa Academy in Bolton, where the Indian coronavirus variant has been detected (PA)

The key “takeaway” from what seems to have been an unscheduled Covid press conference is the phrase “hard choices”, uttered by Boris Johnson, a man famously averse to such dilemmas. The prime minister is fonder of having his cake and eating it.

While there is apparently enough confidence to go ahead with the partial unlock on Monday, the clear message is that the Great Leap Forward planned for June may have to be more cautious and partly postponed. This likely means that holidays and the opening of the leisure sector, as well as the wider economic recovery, will be slower and more hesitant than previously thought.

As with the previous unlocks, the path to normality may not be smooth and may not be traversed as rapidly as all would wish. Summer, if not exactly “cancelled”, might be somewhat more restrained than seemed likely only a few weeks ago. As the prime minister put it, there may be some “distortion and delay to that ambition”. Similar caution has been expressed by Mark Drakeford and Nicola Sturgeon.