A “dangerous experiment”, an “avoidable crisis”, “epidemiological stupidity” – these are just a few of the scathing comments made by a range of international experts about the UK’s decision to break away from the rest of the world and remove almost all Covid restrictions on 19 July.

Certainly, the government is taking a gamble. The UK currently has the second highest number of Covid cases worldwide and the fourth-highest number of cases when adjusted for size of population, due to a wave that has been largely powered by the highly transmissible Delta variant.