Were it not for the crisis precipitated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it is likely that the surge in coronavirus cases would be dominating political debate. It is estimated that some three million people in the UK are currently infected by the more virulent BA.2 sub-variant of omicron, with 300,000 new cases daily – three times higher than the official seven-day average.

This trend is being seen across western Europe. The big difference with past spikes is that fatalities and hospitalisations have been suppressed substantially by the vaccines. The point has been reached where normality can be resumed and “living with Covid” move from a slogan to reality.

England is one of just six countries so far to remove all restrictions, though other parts of the UK have retained mask-wearing mandates despite longer and tougher controls showing no better results. At the weekend, Germany sought to do the same with a Covid “freedom day”, only to find that self-governing regions refused to lift the various mandates still in place. Some countries still require masks to be worn outdoors for no public health benefit whatsoever.

Australia and New Zealand, which both followed an eradication strategy for two years, have given up now that most of the population has been vaccinated and the more infectious strains have taken a grip. The big outlier is China, source of the virus and the one country still trying to live without it. Major cities are being shut down once more and millions placed in the most stringent lockdown conditions following an outbreak that has killed several people.

The Communist Party now seems to regard winning a fight with the virus as a measure of its political virility, whatever the cost to its people and their well-being. China’s big problem is that many older people – especially in Hong Kong – have not been vaccinated or the jabs were ineffective, leaving them vulnerable to a sudden outbreak.

The “zero Covid” strategy has been shown to fail around the world and the Government here is right to pursue a policy of living with the virus. People should not be reckless, however, and most will no doubt heed Sajid Javid’s advice to stay at home if they have the symptoms of a bad cold even if they don’t test positive for Covid or test at all.

Spring booster jabs are now being rolled out for five million older and more vulnerable people. The NHS is coping while excess deaths are lower than normal. The balance seems right.