### Clue: Current protection scheme in tatters — need extremely qualified expert (4,3,5)
### Answer: TEST AND TRACE 
 ### Explanation: Definition: Current protection scheme
 **Anagram of**(in) [TATTERS + **1st and last letters of**(… extremely) "need"] + ACE(qualified expert).
Defn: A Covid-19 jargon: a procedure to try to contain the epidemic.
And perhaps the surface is a commentary on the way it's being handled.