FOR Britain, the Covid war is over. Hospital admissions, infections and deaths are down.
The virus is weakening. Vaccinations are working.
Boris Johnson has declared a ceasefire, giving our shell-shocked economy and blighted high streets a chance of survival after two years of lockdown misery.
Working from home is no longer encouraged.
We can resume hugging and holidays, visiting GPs, showing our faces and living life as it used to be.
And embrace this return to normality we must.
Your after-work pub will welcome your hard-earned cash.
The sandwich shop where you buy your lunch will be delighted to once again prepare your “usual”.
Yet like Japanese soldiers still fighting after hostilities ended, public sector vested interests are determined to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Streets are filled with terrified mask-wearers. They dive for cover if anyone comes close and tick off those who go bare-faced. Society is divided.
Covid has become political warfare by another name.
The Government’s vow to let us live with a version of Covid more akin to a common cold is greeted with howls of fury from teachers, the BMA doctors’ union, the cash-guzzling NHS — and London’s bewildered Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan.
Scotland and Wales still pursue a Covid vendetta against the Tory government in Westminster.
Shroud-waving BMA boss Dr Chaand Nagpaul led the charge against lifting restrictions, warning it “risks creating a false sense of security” with the NHS still under “crippling pressure”.
“This decision clearly is not guided by the data,” he bleated.
The end of mask-wearing would “inevitably increase transmission” and place the most vulnerable at risk.
“Ghengis” Khan piled in, insisting Tube and bus passengers must remain masked.
“Sadly this is not the end of our fight against the virus,” Sadiq said.
“Covid still poses a significant threat to all of us, our livelihoods and our loved ones.
“I’m asking everyone to do the right thing and continue to wear a face covering to keep us all protected and to prevent further restrictions later down the line.”
Militant teachers’ leaders fanned the flames, claiming widespread dis-ruption to education — even though children are least at risk from Covid.
Hard-left Mary Bousted, of the National Education Union, said: “Uncertainty could lead to a pronounced risk of increased disruption, with children and staff having to isolate.”
Saffron Cordery, of NHS Providers, claimed there were nearly 20,000 Covid patients in hospital “at a time when the NHS is already at full stretch and contending with the toughest winter on record”.
Pat Cullen, of the Royal College of Nursing, predicted ministers would “regret sending the wrong signal for political expediency”.
And Matthew Taylor, from the NHS Confederation, said: “Covid has not magically disappeared. We are likely to have to learn to live alongside it for years to come.”
All these fear-mongering claims are challenged by evidence that the NHS is now coping well, with reduced pressure from emergency admissions to intensive care.
This comes as startling new official figures obtained under Freedom of Information rules show only one in eight Covid deaths was caused by the virus alone.
The Office for National Statistics revealed 17,371 otherwise completely healthy people died of Covid in the first 18 months of the pandemic — massively below the official tally of 137,133.
The majority of patients now on Covid wards are — for various reasons — unvaccinated.
Hospital admissions are lower than usual as Covid pushed down flu case numbers.
More beds are available and patients stay for shorter periods.
New medications and treatment make them less vulnerable to serious symptoms.
And deaths from ALL causes — including Covid — are down on the usual five-year average.
Britain is leading Europe out of the pandemic while countries such as France are paying dearly for slower vaccination rates.
As for face masks, scientists including Dame Jenny Harries, head of the UK Health Security Agency, are on the record questioning their value.
In some cases, they actually increase the infection risk as they become damp after use.
And in this age of green awareness, shouldn’t we acknowledge the huge environmental impact of tens of billions of plastics-loaded masks on our oceans, drains and sewers?
Even leftie Sage scientists, who pushed for the first lockdown in 2020, are running out of excuses to keep restrictions in place.
Prof Neil Ferguson, who terrified us with predictions of mass slaughter — while breaking Covid rules by having sex with his mistress — admits the worst is over.
The truth is that this is no longer a major health issue.
Covid-19 has been ruthlessly seized by the Left as a jagged-edged political weapon to divide the nation down party lines.
From the moment the pandemic was unleashed on an unsuspecting world from Communist China, public sector unions and the Labour Party have clamoured for the toughest possible restrictions.
Lockdown was a policy disaster for which we will pay dearly for decades to come — many with their lives after cancelled treatment for terminal illnesses such as cancer.
Lockdown has inflicted mental health trauma on countless adults and children.
And it has inflicted unimaginable costs on the nation’s economic health — billions of pounds of Covid debt sharpening the growing cost-of-living crisis.
Whatever happens to Boris Johnson over the coming weeks, his bitter-sweet legacy will include bringing it all to an end before any other country in Europe.
