The Government is losing public confidence won by its vaccine success

SIR – The credit that the Government has gained from the successful vaccination programme, which to some extent compensates for its previous mishandling of the pandemic, is rapidly diminishing.

The primary reason for the international travel chaos – and reduction, rather than expansion, of green-list countries (along with the further economic harm this entails) – is largely of the Government’s making. It took far too long to stop flights from India, when it was clear that the new variant could be dangerous.

Rear Admiral Philip Mathias (retd) Southsea, Hampshire

SIR – As a retired airline pilot, my heart bleeds for the hundreds of thousands of crew and staff in the airline and travel industries who must be wondering whether they will have a company or a job to return to.

This is not just about one country, Portugal, going at short notice from green to amber. It is about passengers’ confidence (or lack of it) in booking holidays anywhere in future, when they know that the rules of the game can be changed at the drop of a minister’s signature.

It is impossible to run an airline or travel company in such circumstances. If there are fewer operators when travel resumes, prices will soar. Moreover, who will want to travel with all the tests, codes, form-filling and mask-wearing required – not to mention the extra expense?

Robert Taylor

Nottingham

SIR – I couldn’t disagree more with Michael Robinson (Letters, June 3), who says the existing restrictions should not be lifted until the national vaccination programme is “complete”.

By this, does he mean until every man, woman and child is vaccinated? We could be waiting a very long time.

New variants will be constantly evolving – it’s what viruses do – but the fact that they may be more transmissible does not necessarily mean they are more deadly. A longer, more harmful lockdown will certainly not help us to live with the virus. Marilyn Parrott

Altrincham, Cheshire

SIR – You report (June 4) that the work-from-home guidance may be extended, in order to mitigate the effects of relaxing other restrictions.

It will be of little use to hospitality and other businesses in city centres to have restrictions relaxed if their customers are still discouraged from travelling there. Such a move would also show considerable disregard for the mental health of those who have been isolated in back bedrooms and at kitchen tables for the last 15 months.

We have been deprived of normal contact with our colleagues, customers and clients since March 2020, and are sick of Zoom. For the Government to sentence us to yet more of this for an indeterminate period, purely to permit others to pack the bar at the local pub, would be verging on the callous. Philip de Voil Leicester