Minimise, manage, and modify: the UK must create and use time

The UK Government's change in strategy to the COVID-19 pandemic is a move from a Contain–Delay–Mitigate–Research approach to what Richard Horton has termed “Suppress–Shield–Treat–Palliate”.1 Horton argues that “the gravity of [the national] scandal has yet to be understood”. Analysing the actions of the past is only helpful to the extent that we can learn and improve for the present. Fortunately, there is immediate value in understanding, and changing, the flawed assumptions underpinning the UK Government's strategy.