Our brilliant scientists and NHS will see us through this epidemic

THE country can look forward to a major stride in the battle against the coronavirus now that 3.5 million antibody tests have been ordered by Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

People will discover if they have had the virus and now enjoy immunity. It is hoped this will allow people to return safely to work without risking the health of others.

This will speed the recovery of the economy, and testing will provide vital information for NHS staff who must be protected from the virus.

It is encouraging to hear that 7.5 million items of protective equipment, including facemasks, have been shipped in the past 24 hours.

As Mr Hancock said: “If people are working on the front line to look after us, it’s vital that we look after them.”

The clarity that will come with mass testing will weaken Covid-19’s grip on the nation.

Hopes of victory have also been stirred by new University of Oxford research which suggests as many as half the people in this country may already have been infected with the coronavirus.

If so, this implies that fewer than one in 1,000 of this number have required hospital treatment, with the vast majority of us only developing mild symptoms or even none at all.

This early modelling is not an excuse to break the rules which rightly keep us in our homes – but there will be rejoicing in every village, town and city if Britain is spared an Italian-style catastrophe.

The next step is for large-scale testing to identify what stage of the outbreak we have reached.

Work by Oxford’s Evolutionary Ecology of Infectious Disease group suggests that the virus may have spread for more than a month before the first UK transmission was recorded at the end of February.

If this is the case, hopes will grow that Britain may achieve “herd immunity” – the point when so many people are resistant to the virus it stops spreading.

Every death so far represents a story of suffering and heartbreak for a family. All of us will do whatever it takes to end this virus’s reign of terror.

Some will serve on the front line and answer Mr Hancock’s call for 250,000 volunteers to support the NHS, and thousands of heroic former medics are returning to the ranks of our great health service.

The NHS is right to prepare for the worst, but brilliance of our scientists, the skill of our doctors and nurses, and the common sense of the public mean that Britain confronts this challenge in a position of formidable strength.