Complacency cannot be tolerated in the response to Covid-19

Volunteers wearing PPE (personal protective equipment) of a face mask as a precautionary measure against COVID-19, work to sort food and create food parcels, for those in need due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, at a temporary food bank centre set up by Edible London and the London Borough of Haringey, at Alexandra Palace in north London on April 29, 2020. - Britain on Tuesday said it would extend reporting of deaths in the coronavirus outbreak to care homes and the wider community, after new statistics indicated the country had been under-reporting its toll. (Photo by DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP) (Photo by DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP via Getty Images)

With a vaccine unlikely to be widely available for at least another year, the threat of coronavirus should be viewed as “ever-present”, writes Laura Spinney in this week’s New Statesman cover essay.

The 1918 flu pandemic set a precdent; respiratory diseases tend to come in waves. And while lockdown measures may impgine on people’s civil liberties, governments should resist the urge to ease them prematurely.

Technology, specifically that which collects and collates data, alongside mass testing, can help to monitor and manage the virus more effectively than has been the case so far.

Read the full article here.