Hard times ahead unless Covid-19 policy is seriously revamped
Months lost to complacency but faster testing and reopening with strict controls needed

Instead of shutting things down, we need to let them to happen – restaurants and travel, for example – under strict rules. Controlled environments are good; uncontrolled ones are bad. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins
The Government urgently needs to reboot its policy on tackling Covid-19 if a grim winter is to be avoided.
It faces an immediate problem of controlling the transmission of the disease and cutting case numbers that continue to rise despite weeks of restrictions.