Considering the lack of apparent concern now and reduction in wearing of masks you would think that this pandemic was over.

Nothing could be further from the truth. It is now raging out of control with 30 times the number of cases as this time last year when we were moving into a second wave which led to the big lockdown.

But of course, vaccinations have prevented many people from catching covid; goodness knows where we would have been this time last year if the present rate of transmission was going on. But unfortunately the rate of deaths and hospital admissions is also higher and it must be a concern that people are still coming forward and needing treatment – after all that was what keeping the virus under control was all about in the first place. We would not wish there to be a repetition of the huge numbers which practically put the NHS out of business.

Today it has been announced that Scotland has had its highest number of cases yet, as did Northern Ireland a short while ago.

What have we actually achieved then? Well we still have a pandemic; it still has the capacity to hospitalise and cause deaths; numbers are still going up but we do have some element of freedom. Perhaps it is the amount of freedom which is being taken which is what we should be worrying about. Those basic rules about self-distancing and wearing masks and staying outdoors are still good options to help keep transmission down.

Professor Hunter of the University of East Anglia thinks we may be nearing equilibrium where the number of new cases remains constant, neither rising nor falling. I wonder how long that type of situation could last.

The last seven day new cases figure stands today at 239237, still on the up but not quite breaking the 240k mark, and neck and neck with the previous day.

We know that the Prime Minister does not want another lockdown. I hope that does not mean that he will move heaven and earth to avoid one, only to be forced kicking and screaming into it as a last resort. I must admit that if I were a betting man, we shall see at least one more lockdown in one of the four UK nations before the end of the year.

So as we move into a second August bank holiday weekend with covid, it is a good time to review where we are going. This time last year we were wondering whether confidence was returning and persuading people to go out. Amazing how things go in cycles. There is a still massive lack of confidence around this year and rightly so.

Anyway time to sit back and enjoy a magnificent sunset.

Adrian Leopard 27-08-21

Photo Saiph Muhammad