Rising Covid cases should be a wake-up call for every one of us

Editorial: The challenge is to use the dreadful experience of the past months and years in a positive way, to improve public health more generally, so that we emerge as a healthier society

We have to do better and that places a responsibility on every part of society (Reuters)

Covid is back, and with a vengeance. There has already been a sharp rise in hospitalisations, with 6,720 people in hospital with the virus on 14 December, up from 5,501 a week earlier.

NHS specialists are concerned that people visiting elderly relatives over Christmas will spread the disease further, and are warning of 10,000 patients with Covid-19 in hospital by the end of the year. The return of the virus comes on top of a particularly serious flu season, with even more people in hospital with flu than with Covid, creating a double burden on the NHS.

This should be a wake-up call for everyone. The challenge is to curb the spread of Covid in such a way as not to destroy the freedoms that we have recovered after the shutdowns of the past two and a half years. To return to those restrictions would be impossible, and they have had huge costs in social, health and economic terms – costs that will continue to affect us for many months to come. We have to do better, and that places a responsibility on every part of society.