Lockdown 2 feels very different to the last one.

Maybe it’s the weather or the alarming news from the UK about Covid running out of control.

Last spring we had many more cases, cases that were in the community.

A total of 27 new cases were recorded on April 2 and then they peaked at 32 on April 9, with one final high of 28 on April 16 before numbers fell off.

This week seven new cases were reported, the highest figure recorded in months.

But this time the threat posed by Covid appears palpable.

A visible sign of this is that most of us are following the government’s advice to wear masks.

Indeed, wearing of masks is now mandatory for entry into Tesco and Shoprite supermarkets, as well as on public transport.

And then there are the lists of high risk and low risk venues, which were never a feature of the first lockdown.

Health Minister David Ashford said: ’The threat from the UK is much greater than the last lockdown.

’The infection rate in the UK is substantially higher than the first lockdown and continuing to grow.

’During the first lockdown the community cases occurred at a much faster rate that meant publishing a list of venues was irrelevant as it was across pretty much all of the community in different settings.

’So for instance on some days we were seeing 20 community cases a day which if each of those had just been to three venues in the previous week is 60 venues a day.’

Chief Minister Howard Quayle told a Covid briefing this week that the circuit- breaker measures government have put in place were based on a risk, ’something that we worried might happen’.

But he added: ’What we now have is a threat. Something that we know is happening.

’We now know that the virus is in our community and spreading.’

He urged everyone to act as if they were infected with Covid.

Mr Quayle said: ’I know the situation across is not the same as here. But this is the right way to think.

’Every time you are considering leaving your home, think again about whether your journey is really essential.

’If you were infectious, how many people might you be spreading it to?’

During lockdown 2, the threat of coronavirus has for many become all too real.

News that a new variant, highly-transmissible strain of the virus, had arrived in the island towards the end of 2020 has only added to the sense of unease.

Urged to stay at home, gardens in winter time are not the refuge they were during last spring’s glorious sunshine.

And there may be one other factor that makes things feel different this time.

We had seen off the Covid threat by June last year.

And yet the virus is back.

We are perhaps all a little battle weary this time round.

But the fight has to go on so we can get back to near normality again.

And with the vaccine programme on track, this will be a case of not if but when.