Bill Harvey: I don’t want your freedom

I know of three people who have recently contracted Covid-19, one now in hospital, having attended football-related events around Wembley during the Euro competition. One told me that the pub in Camden where he watched the match had actively encouraged revellers to remove their masks at the bar.

I mention this because we are about to embark on yet another period of mixed messaging. Despite half of the population, and most of those at high risk, having been double vaccinated, the highly infectious Delta variant is running riot. Double vaccination does not stop infection, as Health Secretary Sajid Javid knows all too well, but does limit the severity of disease. But, as pointed out by health experts around the world, this is not the point. Every transmission increases the risk of a new mutation, and so the risk of a new variant, unaffected by current vaccines, should be uppermost in our thoughts.