We need to protect the economy as well as the public

COVID-19 cases are on the rise again, surging up to 3,000 a day, as part of a widely predicted second spike of infections heading into autumn.

- Tim Newark

Health officers are expressing “great concern” and chiding us for having “relaxed too much” over summer, but there is every reason to be optimistic this time. Above all, the Government must not be panicked into unnecessary measures that further damage our battered economy.

The rise is mainly among young people in their 20s, the least vulnerable to the virus, with many showing no symptoms at all. Ten times as many 20-year-olds tested positive in the last weeks of August compared with those in their 70s.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock is right to caution that they must be careful not to pass it on to their elderly family members. “Don’t kill your gran,” he warns, but those older generations with underlying health issues are already being careful to shield themselves.

Improved hygiene throughout society is no bad thing with constant hand-washing and common sense social distancing a highly effective barrier against needless germ spreading.

The important figures are hospital admissions and deaths resulting from Covid-19 and these remain reassuringly low. Every life lost from coronavirus is a personal tragedy, but the statistical reality is that fewer than one in 1,000 Britons have perished from the disease.