The current strategy of solely testing people that have been admitted to hospital with suspected Covid-19, or if there is an outbreak in long-term care facilities and prisons, does not enable the NHS to identify who is infected, isolate those infected, contain the spread of the disease, and effectively direct resources towards those in genuine need of medical care.

When the first two cases of Covid-19 were identified in January, an opportunity was missed to test and isolate those infected, to prevent the spread we currently see in the UK.

Self-isolating for 14 days when people present symptoms of Covid-19 has mean that one in four doctors and nurses are absent from work - many of whom may not have the virus - which is impairing the ability of the NHS to effectively tackle the pandemic.

People who may not know they have the virus - as they are not presenting symptoms, but are carriers - may be unintentionally contributing to the spread.

UK nationals returning to the UK, especially from countries with high rates of infection such as China, Italy, Spain, Germany and Iran are not being tested for Covid-19 or being quarantined for the incubation period, currently believed to be two weeks. This may have also contributed to the massive spread of the disease in the UK.

It must be recognised that what happens in other countries can affect us in the UK, as due to globalisation, health is not private, as prior to the imposition of the control measures, we lived in herds. As such, our own individual health is often directly reliant on the health of others.

An opportunity has been missed by the UK to redirect much of its generous world aid budget of 2 per cent of GDP to developing countries to enable their own over-stretched hospitals to deal with this pandemic. Not only is this the right thing to do, it also helps to protect people in this country.

The NHS is overstretched to bursting point, due to funding that has not kept pace with the demand for its services.

An overstretched and in some cases ‘bare boned’ NHS needs assistance to effectively target scant resources to those in genuine need of medical care.

There are currently no accurate figures for infection rates in the UK and without universal testing, it is not possible to identify any geographical clusters of infections and/or the demographics of age, sex, race, disabilities and pre-existing health status of those infected.

Current strategies to deal with the pandemic are ineffective. Moreover, as the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty, the Prime Minister and the Health Secretary have all reportedly tested positive for Covid-19, it is indicative - assuming that they are following their own advice - that their strategy is ineffective.

This ‘one-size-fits-all’ disproportionate, isolation policy will have potentially serious economic consequences for the UK economy, as people who are fit are economically inactive, leading to lost tax revenues, increased benefit payments, tax-payer funded government bailouts of up to 80 per cent for some employees and self-employed contractor’s, and increased borrowing that will have to be re-paid by future generations of tax-payers.

Ian Kirkham

The Queens Drive, Chorleywood