Restoring trust: Why we must hit reset on the UK’s “Living with Covid” plan (20 July 2022)

Summary

The UK’s current strategy is outlined in its “Living with Covid-19” plan, which has three key pillars: vaccines, testing and treatment. In April 2022, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change undertook a critical analysis of this plan: what worked well, what didn’t, and what needed to change to manage Covid more effectively, and to protect society and the economy. The recommendations were incremental steps amounting to a responsible and proactive strategy. Unfortunately, as we see from the recent rapid rise in cases – most involving people who are being infected for the first time – as well as from the increasing hospitalisations and the rise in deaths, the strategy shows what living with Covid means in reality.

To support the government, this paper sets out immediate and practical measures to safely guide the country through the latest Covid wave and to outline the longer-term shifts that will better prepare it for public-health emergency management in the future – including by restoring trust with the public.