As the Omicron variant of the coronavirus plunges the world into new waves of restrictions and reinforces that COVID-19 is here to stay, governments around the world are struggling to communicate a long-term plan for living with the virus. This is most obvious in the public squabbles over vaccine mandates and passports, but also in shifting the burden from acute to primary care.

It is very clear that we will need to live with COVID-19 in the community for the foreseeable future, and we very much need to come up with long-term solutions on how to manage it as efficiently and financially sustainably as possible. The obvious answer is in technology solutions, of which there are many but which very much need to be backed up by long-term workforce reforms and needless to say, a bit of cash.