For Professor Sunetra Gupta, there’s a parallel between December 2021 and March 2020: “Uncertainty regarding this virus was overplayed, as it’s being overplayed now with this new variant.”

The Oxford University epidemiologist and co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, which called for focussed protection of vulnerable groups over the Covid-19 lockdowns, joins columnists Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan on the latest episode of their weekly podcast, Planet Normal, which you can listen to using the audio player above. Telegraph subscribers can listen to an unabridged version of the conversation using the audio player below.

Should we be panicking over the new omicron variant, which saw MPs strengthen rules on travel, mask-wearing and self-isolation? “No,” Professor Gupta tells the podcast. “We should never have been panicking.”

Professor Gupta adds: “The risk of this new variant is not so much related to the intrinsic properties of the variant in terms of how virulent it is, but the landscape of immunity that it encounters. And the landscape of immunity in the countries where it has circulated is much more favourable… There are parts of the world where people have not been naturally exposed and not yet vaccinated and it’s more problematic for them.”

Listen to Planet Normal, a weekly Telegraph podcast featuring news and views from beyond the bubble, using the audio player above or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your preferred podcast app. Telegraph subscribers can listen to Allison Pearson’s uncut interview with Professor Sunetra Gupta using the audio player below.