It sounded simple, albeit somewhat limited, but a list of green countries where we could travel with minimal tests and no quarantine seemed like a good start to re-opening international travel.

And clearly people are beginning to take note with TUI increasing its flights to Portugal and also advising that they will be offering flights to countries on the amber list, destinations which will requires tests and quarantine on returning.

But on the other side of the coin the UK is now being criticised for being too restrictive on its relaxations. This is because other countries are not requiring such restrictive requirements on returning, e.g. Germany.

And all of this is happening at the same time as a general lifting of restrictions in pubs and restaurants. From Monday you will be able to dine and drink inside and meet at home with small groups as well.

All this will be seen as progress but unfortunately progress in relation to what? Progress to be able to get out and about in a more normal way, certainly, but progress in terms of restricting the spread of coronavirus, probably not and with new variants in the offing all the time, there are going to be those who have been fully vaccinated who will still want to pursue a line of caution. Getting covid-19 is no fun even if it does not cause your death. And isn’t that really the problem? To be fair to the government they never said that the disease would have to be eradicated so that people did not die of it – they said they needed it to be at a low incidence so that the HNS could manage it.

I think that people will gain more confidence once they know just how effective having antibodies in their blood is going to be, whether derived from a vaccination or from have succumbed to the virus at some stage. This is information which it is too early to ask for - may be in another six to twelve months the medical authorities will be able to say that a vaccination is good for life, or a vaccination is good for only twelve months or like smallpox, once you have had it you cannot get it again! When this information is available and perhaps people can get tests showing their resistance count, confidence may start to return. At the moment it looks more like people are just interested in getting their freedom back and the cost of that freedom is somewhat incidental.

If there is a prediction to make at the moment, watch the new cases figure in a couple of weeks’ time – the new cases are not getting any less at the moment and with general mixing about to re-start the situation can only escalate again. That may be okay but the last thing we really want is another lockdown so it has to be hoped that if there is the slightest sign of that, the government will jump back in and do their best to stop it.

Adrian Leopard 12-05-21

Photo Jason Leung