The Zero Covid movement is fanciful and dangerous - Mark Casci

I sadly had to tell her that, while it would become less serious, the only way to get rid of it altogether would need a magic wand and that, unfortunately, I did not have such a thing.

At long last there does seem to be light at the end of the tunnel. Thanks to the herculean efforts around mass vaccination and the sacrifices upon liberties of the whole nation, we may well be beginning to awaken from our collective nightmare.

The vaccines being used in the UK seem to be increasingly effective in reducing a person’s risk of being admitted to hospital, with data suggesting it may do so by as much as 94 per cent four weeks after the first dose.

Hospital admissions in England of patients with Covid-19 are down nearly three-quarters from their second-wave peak. And while we remain vulnerable to new variants, the mood music from the scientific community suggests the existing vaccines can be effectively tweaked to cope with them. The long-overdue travel ban is also helping in this regard.

While victory in the battle against this tragic public health emergency is now firmly within our grasp we will now face further challenges in order to keep us all safe.

Faced with the after effects of the biggest downturn since the Great Frost of the 1700s, Britain’s economy is in diabolical shape. It is easy to dismiss the importance of a strong economy, or to mischaracterise the need to keep it strong as a false confrontation between protecting health and wealth.

When Covid threatened to overwhelm the NHS, the decision was rightly taken to place severe limits on the economy in order to cut transmission.

However, it was only ever intended as a short-term measure and is, to any right thinking person, utterly unsustainable.

That is why I have been dismayed to bear witness to the so-called ‘Zero Covid’ movement. Set up last summer by predominantly trade unions, local councillors and a tiny handful of academics and medical professionals, the movement seeks to completely eradicate the virus from our shores.

Its means of achieving this consist of a full UK-wide lockdown until new cases in the community have been reduced “close to zero”, with the Government guaranteeing the livelihood of everyone impacted by this process. No end date is specified.

Zero Covid supporters claim diseases such as polio, measles and smallpox have all been eradicated and that we should do the same with Covid.

Herein we begin to see the argument collapse into dust. Measles and polio have not been eradicated.

The UK had 79 cases of measles last year alone. Polio has not been on our shores since the mid-1980s but dozens of cases are reported worldwide every year. And while it is true smallpox has been eradicated, this process took 200 years.

“Ah, but what about New Zealand?,” its supporters yell, drawing the comparison with another island nation which has no Covid cases.

While it is true that New Zealand has impressively eradicated the virus (although there was a minor outbreak earlier this month) we are talking about a country with a population significantly smaller than Yorkshire’s and which is not a major trading nation.

Similarly, Far Eastern countries who have successfully brought cases to heel were far better equipped to deal with a Covid-19 style virus, given their experiences of SARS etc.

They have efficient Test and Trace systems and mask wearing is commonplace. Lessons need to be learned going forward.

You might wonder why I am giving such a fringe movement so much attention but I do so with good reason. Already it has attracted the backing of some MPs. Advocating for never-ending lockdown is to advocate for mass unemployment, a mental health crisis and a generation of poorly educated children.

Do not misunderstand me, I would love there to be zero Covid in our country.

But I do not have a magic wand and pretending otherwise is dangerous and misleading.