Waited a long time for this coming and hopefully get some money back in the coffers for all the clubs

wow!!!!!! we are in lockdown and no crowds with 15 cases a day you guys over 1000 a day and full capacity - well done UK showing us aussies what to do

I guess you’re being cocky here, didn’t the recent SO have big crowds. And regarding showing Oz, you decided you’d hide from Covid, you’ve done very little vaccination wise, the saying “you can run but you can’t hide” suits Oz and NZ perfectly at the moment. When these two countries open up it will be carnage numbers wise sadly.

It's not the cases that count. It's the numbers in ICU you need to count.

And the death rate which is now astonishingly low. Put bluntly in its current form it’s no more a killer disease than any other. This could change and nobody wants to tempt fate but you cannot justify shutting down an economy for one day more with the current figures.

I have no actual figure to prove this but I’d guess the daily death rate from Covid is now not much more than those from road accidents, overdoses or industrial accidents and nobody bats an eye at those.

Again I’m not belittling Covid it’s been dreadful but we simply must move on now and take calculated risks to get back some normality.

I totally agree with Jinjer, the Aussies are hiding behind there countries vast size and remoteness but when the world opens back up they will have no choice but to re-engage, they are not a stand alone nation despite the arrogance they sometimes exude. When they do they may be in some serious bother.

I would of thought that the vaccine has played a big part in the control of Covid, we can only watch an report and act if it gets any worse

It's interesting that there is an expectation of cases rising to 50,000 per day after the new easing of lockdown restrictions, a number significantly greater than the previous peak.
Whilst accepting the very low mortality numbers, this is one hell of a gamble - everything is going on red, with the UK going it alone in now allowing covid to spread at will but, hoping that it wont kill too many.

It's hard to be certain but, we appear to be the only nation taking this approach ?

My other concern is that a greater prevalence of the virus in a population gives increased likelihood of mutations and new variants developing and with most now vaccinated, there could be one that appears which gets around the vaccine.

Stopping the economy is a far bigger one.

Sometimes in life, you have to be pragmatic and seize the day, it's what made this nation, and that has to include a level of sacrifice.

Now I'm not suggesting Somme levels here but with the current case to death ratio lockdown cannot be justified. Even if it went up pro-rata to infections it still couldn't.

By seizing the day I mean this. Whether you think Boris is a lucky clown, or you are anti-Brexit etc, the UK is now the best positioned country in Europe and perhaps the world to make a strong economic recovery. This is not a political opinion it's just how it's turned out, whether by luck or judgement Boris has hit gold with the vaccines and it would be criminal to waste it.

I'm not a fan of the EU and I was never convinced leaving would be a disaster but now we have a chance to make good any losses far more easily than we might otherwise have done. It's not great that thousands died and that this may well make a prize clown look like Churchill to some but it would be incredibly churlish and counterproductive as a nation to let that get in our way.

It's sink or swim for the UK and we may have just been thrown a life belt.

So sorry but for me, it's no gamble, it's a necessity.

So you want to stay like this forever and return to the dark ages?

I understand your concern but a line has to be drawn. Not every life can be protected, we are all going to die, the virus now has to run its course even if that means more death. We at least know we now have numerous vaccines that can cope and be improved, the truth is from now on Covid will have to be treated like the flu, and with that will come a level of death.

I'm vulnerable and two family members are so I'm not being glib, but we can't go on like this.

My sentiments exactly

Is it really "sink or swim" and if so, why is the UK the only nation that is taking this particular route ?
Also, our new Health Secretary is suggesting that we will see 100,000 new cases every day.
Even with very small percentages ending up in hospital and dying, is this the right approach - as I say, only the UK has gone for the schmidt or bust, risk everything on red approach.
After 15 months of restrictions, the "now or never claim" seems bloody ludicrous, it clearly isn't now or never.