Experts keeping close eye on rising cases

PUBLIC Health England continues to closely monitor local rates, it said, including the impact of any new variants. Vaccines are being distributed fairly, it stressed, and the government is working with community groups to encourage take-up where there is hesitancy – including stressing that an NHS number is not required in order to receive the jab.

Nevertheless it remains unclear what more would be done in concrete terms were infection rates to accelerate in some parts of the country before national lockdown is even lifted. Or whether there would be any discretion around school reopening in such places. In reality, it is understood the government’s ‘Contain’ strategy, intended to keep a grip on the virus locally, is currently being rewritten.

In the meantime, calls for an increased focus on self-isolation support and job security are likely to grow ahead of next week’s Budget, with public health directors repeatedly making the case that without isolation, test and trace loses its value.

Experts will also continue looking at the divides in the infection rate map and our familiar stubborn rates, despite the increased optimism in the air.

“The big number increases are happening in the places with high underlying prevalence and endemic transmission,” says one public health official of infection rate trends. “It’s the areas of structural, social inequalities and occupational risk.”