The writer is a science commentator
Covid-19 is a capricious foe. Just as the UK government updated its “Living with Covid” strategy last month, case numbers began creeping up again. According to the Office for National Statistics, just under 4.3mn people in the UK were infected in the week ending March 19, thanks to the more transmissible Omicron BA.2 sub-variant, waning boosters and the easing of restrictions.
No matter: from April, free universal testing for Covid will end and many NHS testing labs will close. The legal requirement to isolate if positive has been downgraded to guidance with related financial support scrapped. Masks have been largely discarded. Surveillance studies, including the Zoe Covid app, are being defunded or scaled back. The government that recommended handwashing to the tune of “Happy Birthday” sung twice, marked the second birthday of the pandemic by washing its hands of responsibility to go on managing it, aside from pledging fourth jabs and antivirals.