Ignore the hysteria ...there’s a sense the worst is over
THE row over Dominic Cummings’ northern odyssey has plunged the Government into its darkest crisis since the start of the coronavirus outbreak. Under relentless fire from the media and mounting hostility from the public, authority is draining away from the Cabinet.
But what the explosive dispute has also done is to distract attention from all the progress that has recently been made in the fight against the Covid menace. With the spotlight so mercilessly focused on Cummings’ automotive wanderings, there is a widespread impression of a continuing official shambles in response to the pandemic. But this is far from the case. In fact, a stream of good news has flowed for days, from the expansion of testing capacity to the fall in infections.
The Government certainly made some sorry errors in its early handling of coronavirus policy, like the neglect of care homes and the slowness in imposing the lockdown.
But since then Ministers, have begun to get a grip, as shown in the supply of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). This had been a severe problem for the NHS, prompting bitter complaints from professionals and key workers of shortages.
BUT now the picture has been transformed, thanks partly to the enterprise of PPE co-ordinator Lord Deighton, who was the mastermind behind the 2012 London Olympics. When the dynamic Daily Express proprietor Lord Beaverbrook galvanised fighter output in 1940 as the Minister for Aircraft Production, Churchill said that he had “worked miracles”.
The same tribute could be paid to Lord Deighton today. This week the Government was able to announce that it had signed deals with more than 100 suppliers across the world for a vast increase in equipment. In addition, domestic production is to be ramped up through orders to British firms for more than two billion items of PPE.
At the same time, the testing regime is working with a new intensity. Yesterday, the testing capacity reached over 154,000, the highest daily total yet. But a far bigger rise could soon be on its way. Two new technologies, one developed by the LGC Group, the other by Popmax, are undergoing trials.
Because they can process tens of thousands of samples at once, they could potentially give the NHS the ability to carry out more than one million tests a day. In isolating the virus, the enlargement of testing will be backed up by a sophisticated track-and-trace system, the development of which includes the recruitment of 24,000 tracers and an advanced phone app.
On every front, there is a sense that the worst is over. On Tuesday the death toll fell to 134, the smallest total for six weeks, while hospital admissions for Covid dropped to 471, the lowest rate since the end of March. In the field of medicine this week, the NHS formally approved the use of the breakthrough drug Remdesivir, which was originally designed to fight ebola and works by interfering with the life cycle of the virus.
Hailing this anti-viral, which in trials shortened recovery times by four days, Health Secretary Matt Hancock called it “the biggest step forward in the treatment of the coronavirus since the crisis began”. Even the threat of a second spike in infections seems to be receding.
As the World Health Organization points out, all the global evidence from eased lockdowns is that such concerns have been exaggerated.
Here in Britain, Dominic Cummings may have inadvertently performed a valuable service by giving the public licence to venture out once more. As the country basks in early summer sunshine under blue skies, a sense of fear is being replaced by an embrace of normality.
After the lead of garden centres last week, outdoor markets and car showrooms will soon open again, while all shops will be allowed to welcome customers from June 15 as long as they maintain rules on social distancing and hygiene.
EVEN the economic outlook is not as gloomy as it appeared a few weeks ago. Talk of the worst slump for three centuries could turn out to be overblown.
According to Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey, there are now “signs of stabilisation and a very modest recovery”. That claim is backed up in business surveys, like one this week by Barclaycard which found that only a fifth of small and medium-sized companies think the pandemic will still have a negative impact in a year’s time. In fact, two thirds of such firms are planning to invest over the next 12 months.
There is still a tough road ahead. But, despite the hysteria at Westminster, the journey is beginning to look less arduous.
‘A sense of fear is being replaced by an embrace of normality’