'Our biggest fear is fear itself as we rebuild after pandemic'

It will not be easy and the transition from tough restrictions to cope with new freedoms and the responsibilities them will be challenging.

Not since the 1980s have we had to cope with the inevitable huge unemployment levels we will face when furlough ends.

A downturn in one area precipitates downturns in others with the closure of employers, adversely affecting their suppliers and the local shops that feed off them, as well as the families of those employees made redundant too.

Universities are accustomed to regular intakes of foreign students, bringing much-needed finance as well as supporting the local economy, but they may not return in the same numbers given international travel challenges.

Organisations that survive during the pandemic will have had to be more innovative and fleet of foot, to operate successfully with home working etc.

In doing so, they may find less need for the same number of employees and/or more resilient and flexible ones.

The government was innovative in its furlough scheme. It must be as innovative in supporting the unemployed, as well as rebuilding the education system to give young people hope for the future.

It’s not all doom and gloom, individuals and organisations have been resourceful to survive, giving them optimism they will prosper in future.

The challenge when we aspire to a greener, healthier country, addressing long-standing Inequalities, is to be as innovative and courageous in devising and implementing strategies, using the pandemic as a catalyst for sustainable change.

We have excellent examples that should give us confidence to deliver this. The NHS did not fail us, as others responded too.

The country has come through a tough time. We can build a better country if we invest in our people, learn from the problems we have faced and build on the new ways of working. Our front-line workers excelled, we accepted the most severest if restrictions, so we can rebuild a better society. We did it after World War Two we can do it again.

Our biggest fear is fear itself.