We really do need to crack on now and finally put the dreaded C-word behind us once and for all.

I know there are new variants out there, but it’s not news any more and the Covid virus will continue to mutate and swirl around us.

Like the ever-present colds and flu we all suffer with from time to time, it is going to continue sweeping through heavily-populated places with gay abandon.

I was recently lucky enough to get a few days’ break in the sunshine and inevitably picked up some form of lurgy on the flight which laid me low and lingered far longer than I would have liked.

If you think about it, packing hundreds of people into a sealed metal cylinder and force feeding them the same recycled air for hours is bound to create a breeding ground for bugs.

But knowing whether you’ve got, or have had, Covid is completely irrelevant now, so there’s no point testing, and even less point worrying about it – just get on with it.

I realise vulnerable and elderly people are more likely to be infected, and likely to suffer worse symptoms than ordinary folk, but that’s the same with any disease.

On a personal level we all sympathise and understand the anguish it can cause when family and friends are affected, but seen globally it is ultimately nature’s way of ensuring the survival of the fittest.

Covid is just the latest leveller, operating like flu epidemics have for centuries, to target and attack those who are weaker at the fringes of society.

There are a whole stack of negatives to come out of Covid – the never-ending excuses for appalling customer service and the number of workers ringing in sick, to name but two.

But fortunately the fist bumping and elbow tapping nonsense seems to have given way to good old-fashioned handshakes again and, in some relevant circumstances, even full-on hugs are the order of the day.

So let’s make absolutely sure we don’t take another step backwards and accept there’s nothing we can do about it any more – Covid will be among us for the foreseeable future.

And I, who am rapidly crossing the boundary into the at-risk vulnerable/elderly bracket, am perfectly willing to accept my fate, whatever that might be.

If a new variant of the Covid virus is the thing that finally does it for me then sobeit - there are many, far worse, ways to go.