Sajid Javid wants the pandemic to end on 19 July, but it should be data – not dates – that drives policy

Editorial: Herd immunity is still some way away, and the young are relatively poorly protected from the disease. There is no reason to be as certain as Mr Javid is that the plan will proceed as smoothly as he suggests

Rather like waving a tray of turkey dinosaurs at a bunch of ravenous children, Sajid Javid’s approach to the Covid crisis is to wave the end of lockdown at his own ravenous backbenchers, in the sadly all-too-realistic hope – indeed knowledge – that all that matters to them is instant gratification. They pay rather less attention to the ingredients of the policy, which may well be as deeply unhealthy as those of the aforementioned teatime delicacy.

Even as indulgent a figure as the new health and social care secretary, however, cannot offer them an instant end to “lockdown” (as the remaining Covid restrictions are misleadingly known). He is, though, determinedly bullish about the prospects of ending the emergency measures on 19 July, leaving behind only a residue of entirely voluntary injunctions: to follow hand hygiene, wear masks in crowded places, ventilate rooms – and, of course, get a jab. If anything, he is even more “boosterish” than the prime minister.

Mr Javid wants the pandemic to end on 19 July – which may just be him misspeaking – but he also states that the process of unlock is “irreversible”, while even Boris Johnson has admitted that there may be delays and diversions along the way, as indeed there have already been.