Could we be asked to self-isolate if we catch flu?

How will coronavirus change our approach to seasonal illnesses? We are heading into the NHS’s most difficult months as winter flu season is upon us, and ministers have been urging people to get a flu jab in order to keep demand in the health service down. Matt Hancock, meanwhile, has been justifying the enormous expense of the beleaguered test and trace system by suggesting that it could continue once the pandemic dies down, being used ‘for everything’. He also told MPs last week that he wanted to end the culture of presenteeism in Britain, saying: ‘If you have flu-like symptoms you should have a test for it and find out what is wrong with you and stay at home. We are peculiar outliers in soldiering on and going to work and that culture, that should change.’

This hasn’t had as much attention as it perhaps deserves.