“WE are now seeing a second wave”, says the Prime Minister.

The problem is, the first wave had never gone away for us here in the UK.

The phrase ‘collective responsibility’ is being used quite a lot recently – from guidance given to university students, to articles in newspapers, to England’s chief medical officer this week – all calling on us to work together in the response to Covid-19.

In May, Boris Johnson boldly promised a “world-beating” track and trace system to stop a second coronavirus spike.

It is now the end of September and evidence suggests contact tracing is still not working and the system is broken.

If we are ‘all in this together’, when will the Government start to look at approaches from those countries who have responded much better to the virus than us?

As most of you will know, the UK officially suffered the highest rate of excess deaths in Europe during the pandemic.

We can’t keep saying ‘but it’s unprecedented’, ‘but with hindsight’ or using other excuses for the catalogue of failings.

Shouldn’t we learn from our mistakes, not repeat them?

International cooperation is more important than ever right now. There are some successful schemes in other countries which show that speed and targeting are key in suppressing coronavirus transmission – strategies which could get us back to leading ‘normal’ lives whilst learning to live with the virus.

I wish we could put aside English exceptionalism and start to take proper collective action to address this crisis which is only going to get worse again with the status quo.

Sally Yalden

Braishfield