A coronavirus test our ministers must pass

BEYOND the obsessive nit-pickers and armchair oracles, practically no one is under any illusion that conquering coronavirus is a diabolically complicated endeavour.

This is why members of the public have acquiesced to the shutdown of the economy and being placed under virtual house arrest. In fact, there is remarkable support for steps that, even by wartime standards, are draconian. But ministers should not presume this well of tolerance is bottomless.

If the public begins to fear the Government has no clear route out of the crisis – regardless how unique it is – patience will rapidly wear thin. Maintaining trust and confidence is, therefore, paramount.

For should people lose faith that those in power have a firm grasp on the steering wheel, they will not endure the disruption required to beat this insidious pandemic. Especially if deaths continue rising.

Yesterday, 569 lives were lost – the biggest day-to-day rise. The tragic total is almost 3,000. Dismal shortages of protective equipment for NHS staff and ventilators have rightly sparked alarm. But the greatest scandal is the failure over Covid-19 testing.

Only an exhaustive screening programme will see Britain emerge from this bad dream – averting a cataclysmic recession and social disaster. For weeks ministers have solemnly pledged to increase tests quickly. Shamefully, the promises haven’t been kept.

Lack of laboratory capacity, a dearth of required chemicals, a disgraceful paucity of kits… all have been wheeled out as excuses by the Government.

But Britain’s leaders have struggled to explain why only a minuscule proportion of quarantined doctors and nurses have been tested – which would allow healthy medics to return to stretched hospitals. Nor have they explained precisely why Britain’s testing lags so far behind other nations.

Instead, confusion and obfuscation have prevailed. When the country is facing an invisible killer, this is utterly indefensible. It is imperative to ditch the disheartening prattle and level with the public.

So the Mail wholeheartedly welcomes Matt Hancock’s mea culpa last night. The chastened Health Secretary, appearing in public for the first time since contracting the virus, admitted screening had not been good enough.

He vowed 100,000 tests a day by the end of this month. In a pointed rebuke to Public Health England’s controlling Left-leaning ideologues, private labs will finally be used – drawing on Britain’s incomparable scientific research and industrial knowledge.

He appointed a leading epidemiologist as his testing ‘czar’ (although we respectfully wonder whether a public sector boffin will have the dynamism and ruthlessness to take no prisoners in tackling the shambles).

Nevertheless, Mr Hancock’s five-point plan is a stride in the right direction – and one this paper demanded.

However, we gently remind him: Words are very nice, but actions count.

The importance of succeeding cannot be exaggerated. Mass testing is the only way to save lives and end this economydestroying lockdown. Businesses and workers are already feeling the pain.

More than half of companies are laying off staff. Almost one million extra people have applied for benefits.

One in five small firms will go bust within a month without help.

So Chancellor Rishi Sunak must order hugely profitable banks (themselves bailed out by the taxpayer during the financial crash) to start handing out emergency loans to viable enterprises floundering in this dark hour.

Lenders have also been told to offer interest-free overdrafts and credit card and loan holidays to struggling customers.

In recent days, ministers have taken their eye badly off the ball. Let us hope, before the crisis is over, the blunder isn’t repeated. For that road leads to catastrophe.