As restrictions ease, it’s time to put our country back on the right track

AS WE swelter our way through a glorious early summer, there’s good reason to allow ourselves a moment of optimism.

The calamitous figures for deaths from Covid-19 are falling. Some 69 hospital trusts in England – more than 57 percent of the total – have reported no coronavirus-related deaths for 48 hours.

And in London, three hospitals have reported no deaths for an entire week.

But we must not forget the 39,045 Britons who have fallen to the disease, and should brace ourselves for further deaths. The virus is currently wreaking havoc in the North, where the infection rate is now nearly double that of London.

And while there are new freedoms for the 2.2million vulnerable people who have been shielding, they are causing consternation.

A sense of limbo persists, as noted by Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who said: “We’re making significant progress but there is still more to be done.”

Yet a new mood is undeniably apparent. It could be seen in the thronged beaches and beauty spots at the weekend – including, sadly, perilous behaviour that jeopardised lives – but also in the gradual, incremental return to daily life. Horse racing and the Premiership are stirring back into life – and an early queue formed as an Ikea store in Warrington reopened.

The nation’s post-virus plans are also taking shape. But employees are looking at the end of furlough with trepidation. Unemployment looms for many. Yet with propitious planning in place, the dark days of confinement can turn into a new dawn.

This is not the time to shelve our infrastructure projects – not even the controversial HS2. The UK needs to be rebuilt and enhanced transport connections must be backed up with a real effort to provide good-quality broadband across the country. Many of us have learned how to work successfully at home and now we need the technological back-up.

There will be mixed feelings about the return to activity. Some, perhaps those later in life, have enjoyed the slowdown, placing a new emphasis on their quality of life. But for the younger generations the lockdown has stolen some of their formative years.

We should be kind to them, and equip them with what they need for the reconstruction task that has landed in their laps.

This virus has been a collective problem, and our solutions as a society lie with each other. We should all do what we can to get our country back on track – and if we are minded, to even look how it might be improved.