Today would have been something like day 147 for the Lockdown Diary had the lockdown here in Geneva persisted. A reminder…. from India came one of the many totally bizarre but telling images to emerge from the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Just because some of us are now able to get out and about, it doesn’t mean that this pandemic is done and dusted. The recent rise in the number of cases is not a second wave; we have just – in some parts of the world – managed to put a dent in the massive first wave. We are still caught in the dilemma of an effective and responsible public health response (including protection of health-care systems and heroic workers) on one hand and limiting the damage to our economy, lifestyles and society on the other. It looks like that damage will prove to be severe and long lasting whatever we do in the near future. In the meantime, we twiddle our thumbs waiting for a O-so-hoped-for vaccine. At a personal level, I want to shake hands with people I meet. I want to hug my friends. I hate the whole mask thing.

The statistics remain central to everything we know and do about the pandemic and yet they are variably reliable, inaccurately reported and grotesquely politicised. This embattled optimist is not excluding a further period of lockdown. Many readers have asked if there is one place where all 57 days from 16 March to 11 May 2020 can be accessed easily. Here it is! BTW… the two most popular posts by far were those about my brother Garth (Day 26) and my friend Alastair (Day 33).