There has been a predictably panicky response from certain quarters to the fact that Covid infections have jumped – at 4.9 million, the largest number since April 2020 – but what actually matters is that the number of people being treated for very severe infections, and requiring intensive care, remains low. The Coronavirus has gone from an emergency to a manageable problem. It needs to be handled carefully and flexibly, with a balance towards living with the disease rather than trying to eliminate it.

Moving on from the pandemic has been made possible by the vaccination programme, a marvel of science and a fruitful collaboration between state and private enterprise: the Government invested wisely, took substantial risks and acted fast. If it proves necessary to roll out another booster programme across all age-groups, so be it. What we absolutely cannot do is return to restrictions. Those societies that have taken longer to lift them will pay a greater price.

Nor can we afford to retain universal free testing, which the Government has ended (except for certain vulnerable groups). Britain has already spent over £15.7 billion on testing, tracing and isolation in 2021-2022 – a figure that needs to be added to failed PPE schemes, the taxes now shooting up to repair the NHS or the millions of damaged incomes, shuttered businesses and lost jobs to get a true sense of the cost of lockdown.

The Government’s Covid strategy, entailing a decisive return to normal, supported by the vaccine, is correct. Ministers must avoid all temptation to panic, let alone to go into reverse.