It’s time to restore our freedom

The scores on the doors are in for QEH. Staff should be proud that their hard work in delivering significant improvements over the last three years has been recognised by the Care Quality Commission.

Its report shows red ratings moving so that several services are now rated good.

Of course, the focus is continuing to improve the services for patients and I will continue to champion QEH’s case for major investment in modernising the hospital.

It is striking that this period of improvement covered the Covid pandemic. While Covid is not over, we are in a

different place to when the pandemic began.

That means we can move to living with Covid with an approach based on responsibility rather than rules,

protecting the most vulnerable, and making sure we can respond to new variants.

This is a continuation of the roadmap set out last year of cautiously removing legal strictures and trusting people’s judgement.

When some people called for tougher controls in the face of uncertainty about Omicron, the government instead accelerated the booster programme. Now 71 per cent of the population are boosted, including 93 per cent of those aged 70 or over - and the limited compulsory measures, including requiring face coverings, ended last month. That decision has proved to be correct - cases are falling, hospitalisations are below 10,000, and deaths are falling.

The combination of treatments and levels of immunity means it is the moment to shift to relying on vaccines and treatments rather than damaging restrictions.

The approach set out by the Prime Minister is based on four elements.

First, remaining rules including the requirement to isolate for five days after a positive test will end. Our

testing and tracing model which cost £15.7 billion - more than the Home Office budget - last year will change given the high levels of protection people have.

From April, free universal testing will be retained for the most at-risk groups.

Combined with this there will be updated guidance on exercising personal judgements, as people do with the flu.

Second, the most vulnerable will be protected with targeted vaccines and treatments. That means a new spring booster for those aged 75 and over, older care home residents, and to those over 12 who are immunosuppressed. In addition, the UK has almost 5 million doses of anti-virals and therapeutics.

Third, there will be ongoing tracking of the virus and the testing infrastructure will be able to scale up if a dangerous new variant appears.

Finally, we need to keep securing the innovations that Covid led to, including access to effective vaccines that can deal with multiple variants.

This is another step on the road to normality. When we took step four on 19 July there was criticism it was reckless.

That was understandable but wrong. Again, some people are calling for the lifting of controls - just not yet.

There is no perfect time to end them. But with high levels of protection, treatments for the most severe effects,

and the capability to ramp up vaccinations and testing, it is time to restore our freedoms

and live with Covid. If not now, when?