AS LOCKDOWN is relaxed, our Prime Minister warns ‘together we have reached another milestone in our roadmap out of lockdown, but we must take this next step with a heavy dose of caution’.

There is much talk of the Indian variant being the reason for this need for caution but I fear it runs deeper than that threat.

Local levels of covid infection are today running at half the national average. But the best we can say of these rates both local and national is that they are not going up.

Now lockdown is eased and the pubs re-opened. Last year when the pubs were re-opened the local rates were ten-times lower, had been dropping strongly under lockdown but began to creep back up as soon as lockdown was lifted.

Of course we have the vaccination programme this time round. It is often heard said that the vaccine cuts mortality by ninety percent or more. But nobody seems to have told the virus. There are still too many Covid deaths among the elderly. Second jabs may be a little recent to be fully effective, but latest data shows one-in-six of over 80s who test positive are still dying and one-in-eighteen of those in their 70s.

So please, when you do step out into the unlocked world, make sure you carry a good heavy dose of that caution with you.

DR MARTIN RODGER

Bloxworth Road, Parkstone