In four decades working as an engineer and scientist, I have rarely known a more polarised time within the scientific field. The marketplace of ideas is depressingly split down the middle: you are either for herd immunity in the shortest possible time or for a full lockdown.

There is, however, a third way: a method that will allow the coronavirus to slowly spread within the population without causing a very high death toll and overwhelming the NHS – while, at the same time, protecting the economic and social wellbeing of the country.