Britain beware – dipping in and out of restrictions will tear this country apart...

ACCURATELY predicting the course of this pandemic has been an impossible task.

Many of the brightest minds working in modelling failed quite spectacularly, so it is with some frustration that we read growing calls for the return of restrictions.

There’s a simple statistic which I believe destroys any argument for further limits on social activity.

From the Office for National Statistics, 98.8 per cent of adults in England are estimated to have Covid antibodies and therefore some protection against the virus.

These are gained either through vaccination or natural infection, leaving a residual “memory” of a virus which allows our immune system to fight it off far more effectively on the second attempt.

Antibody levels may rise and fall, depending on the date of infection or vaccination, but if there is a detectable level then the protection provided will be substantial against hospitalisation or death.

Sounds like great news, doesn’t it?

It is and we shouldn’t be afraid to tell people about it.

Any figure released from the ONS which paints the situation in a more negative light leads the bulletins yet more positive ones like this are mostly ignored.

That number is as high as it will realistically go.

So to those calling for more restrictions, I ask this – what will be the difference in a few months when another wave hits? Or this coming winter? Or the one after?

This model of dipping in and out of restrictions will tear the country apart.we are already seeing the brutal economic damage from previous restrictions. We simply cannot afford it. Of course, it isn’t just economic chaos. Damage caused from the non-covid health crisis will take us decades to recover from and, sadly, thousands of people will lose their lives due to disruptions in diagnosis and treatment.

Take cancer. Estimates are as high as 100,000 patients who have missed their diagnosis, with treatment disrupted for many others.we’ve had far too many examples at Doctorcall, where a patient has delayed getting a symptom checked and that has led to a more advanced form of cancer requiring treatment.

More restrictions, more fear, more delays.

I understand the concern of those working on the front line in hospitals.the best way that we, as a population, can help alleviate that pressure is to get boosted, not to drastically alter our lives in ways that are unsustainable, costly and have devastating consequences.

What are the other options? Zero-covid is an impossible policy objective. Just look at the images from Shanghai where a city is now locked away and starving.

Suppressing this virus in any meaningful way is completely incompatible with the values we hold dear.

To think that this was a policy suggestion from certain decision-makers is chilling.

Society has to be allowed to function fully – no other approach is sustainable.

There are signs the situation is easing in wards across the UK.

And it’s important to remember that many of those included in hospital figures are not primarily being treated for Covid but just happen to have the virus during their stay. This presents problems for staff but it’s not the same as treating a patient for a severe bout of the disease.

Vaccinations, not restrictions, are the way to deal with this virus from now on.the Government has taken this approach and I believe it is absolutely the right one. Just as we deal with influenza every winter, we have to deal with Covid in the same pragmatic fashion.

‘Society must function fully’