My Lords, I speak in support of the amendment from my noble friend Lady Brinton. One of the main reasons I am doing so is that I think the messaging being put over at the moment is entirely wrong and out of sync with where we are in this pandemic.
I watched a very short World Health Organization video this morning. It was only a minute long and it was called “Moving from Pandemic to Endemic”. The clear message was that endemic does not equal good. During an endemic, you actually require strong health control programmes if you are going to continue to
reduce infections, hospitalisations and deaths—something I am sure we all want to do. In my view, there is a pressing need to maintain some of the public health measures that can help us control this virus as it becomes endemic. You can change the label but that does not change the challenges facing us, which, in my view, require sustained protections, particularly for the most vulnerable, and a very strong public health system.
Looking back at the Statement from the Prime Minister when the living with Covid plan was introduced, I was perplexed. He set out the rationale that cases were falling, hospitalisations were falling and the number of excess deaths from omicron was actually in negative territory. Were that still the case, I suspect I would feel quite a lot more relaxed than I do at the moment. This morning, I reviewed the figures and the latest stats from the ZOE study, the ONS and the Government’s own dashboard. Just on the Government’s dashboard we are seeing an increase of 52% in people testing positive over the last seven days and an increase of 18% in patients admitted to hospitals over the last seven days. That is not a virus in retreat.
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For that very reason, I have some real concerns and some questions that I would like to put to the Minister. I am perplexed at the statement that people should stay at home if they can and what that means. I think people will find that extremely confusing. I am very concerned that there is going be only limited symptomatic testing available in the population. Can the Minister say what that will mean, for example, for people who are asymptomatic but attending hospital appointments, for unpaid carers who work on a daily basis with people who are extremely clinically vulnerable, and for relatives visiting their loved ones in care homes?
Many relatives visit their loved ones in care homes on a daily basis and, to my knowledge, those care homes—certainly the care home where my mother is—are still insisting, quite rightly, that all visitors do lateral flow tests before they visit. Who is going to fund these tests after April when my understanding is that they stop being free? What funding are the Government going to make available to both the NHS and social care settings to continue with testing where they feel that that is required for patient and staff safety and for relatives? At the start of the pandemic, we found out to our cost what happens when you do not have the right measures in place in very vulnerable settings such as care homes. I do not understand the rationale for why PPE will continue to be provided but not testing. We so clearly need both. Can the Minister explain the rationale for that?
I have two final points. On vaccines, I am worried that the current messaging will mean that people who have not had the vaccine will perhaps be less likely to take it up. What does it mean for a fourth booster? What does it mean for primary-age children? I know from a number of colleagues, and indeed from my own family, that primary-age children are coming home and testing positive. What are the Government’s plans for vaccinating primary-age children?
Finally, on the issue of mental health, I fully understand that the end of restrictions is a welcome moment for many people, but, frankly, for those with mental health problems or underlying health conditions it is going be a time of immense worrying, particularly now people are allowed to leave home, it seems, while Covid-19 positive. What are the Government going to do to make sure that support, particularly mental health support, is in place for those who are very anxious about the Government’s policies?
I conclude by saying that I just do not think it is possible to put across the message that this is now endemic, Covid-19 has gone away and we do not need to worry any more. I do not think that that is a responsible position for the Government or anyone else to take.