The Covid battle Sajid Javid still has to face

Despite the humiliation of Matt Hancock’s exit, Sajid Javid, the new Health Secretary, might in fact find him a tough act to follow. After an appalling start to our Covid-19 response with missing PPE, high care home deaths, and delays to lockdowns and border controls, under Hancock’s watch the UK is now one of the most vaccinated countries in the world and appears to have decoupled deaths from Covid-19 infections. We seem on track to remove the remaining restrictions in July and deliver some of the strongest economic growth in the world as we bounce back. But Javid, as he considers other health issues such as dealing with the backlog caused by the pandemic, winter threats, staff recruitment and social care, should also worry that to date the pandemic has managed to throw up surprises. This rosy picture of our recovery could be disrupted under his watch. The most immediate threats are from variants and an unacceptable level of deaths amongst the unvaccinated.