ANOTHER week, another Covid announcement. But this one is different.

This week’s announcement is a predetermined plan, not a reaction to unfolding events. We now have a plan for unlocking our economy, a plan that is based on data, not dates.

That said, of course, the plan has a lot of dates in it, but data determines whether the dates are triggered.

Details of what is proposed is freely available, but the thinking behind this is that all businesses, all sports clubs, all societies, those planning weddings and celebrations, and any number of other interested organisations, need to have a clear idea of what they can expect, given background data.

If you run a tennis club, for example, you can now expect that, given certain criteria, on March 29, you will be able to open up your club to outdoor tennis given that all caveats have been met. And you will get confirmation of this on March 22.

This applies across the whole of England – there are no regional tiers. The rules and guidance is there to make this simple and predictable.

Most importantly, this has been designed that it will not be reversed. The aim of all this is that (notwithstanding something completely unpredicted) each stage will be delivered only with the confidence that we will not have to ask people to go back to where we were before.

This is a one direction process, albeit one that can be slowed down if necessary.

The reason we can do this? We are world leading in our vaccination programme. It is only because we are so successful that we have this confidence.

Of course, vaccination needs to continue to roll out as expected. We also need to see balance in the infection rates – a sudden surge would stop the relaxation process immediately.

Similarly, a new, more aggressive variant would also put the brakes on the unlock. And we need to continue to be confident in the evidence that vaccination is working.

We will hear more about support for the economy and households next week when we have the annual budget statement.

This pandemic has wrought havoc on our finances and although we have a plan, we are not through the woods yet.

Many will be disappointed that we have a process that doesn’t end until June 21 at the earliest. But this strikes me as the best plan given a hideously complex situation.