Now is the time for cool heads, not panic

THANKS to Matt Hancock’s passable imitation of Dads Army’s excitable Corporal Jones, Covid-19 panic went viral on a whole new level.

The UK Health Secretary’s lurid language about a mutant strain being so ‘out of control’ that millions had to be plunged into lockdown, had exactly the effect one would expect.

The international community was seriously spooked and, despite a marked lack of evidence that this variant is any more dangerous than others, moved immediately to send us into quarantine.

France closed its Channel ports to UK traffic and a host of other countries in Europe and beyond severed air links. At a stroke we became global lepers.

Talk of food shortages because of the border chaos sparked more hysteria at home, with panic-buyers flooding the shops. No matter that retailers said there was plenty of food to go round and would be for the foreseeable future, the hare was off and running.

With £5million of perishable Scottish food heading to Europe everyday, the consequences of the shutdown could be severe. And as if this turmoil were not enough, most of us are still reeling from the decision to scrap the dispensations that would have allowed something approaching a normal Christmas.

In a year of U-turns, this one is particularly hard to bear, wrecking hopes of family reunions except for December 25 itself.

Meanwhile, police Border patrols are being stepped up in a bid to enforce this draconian regime.

Education faces further disarray, with a delayed start to the new term and online learning in the New Year. We saw what a shambles it was last time, and there’s a risk that a repeat will leave children casualties of lockdown once again.

These latest restrictions have been imposed because of disturbing new evidence about the Covid variant.

It is crucial that governments can act quickly when public safety is at risk – but this strict new system has been foisted upon us with no debate or vote.

The restrictions were ushered in at a dramatic televised briefing on Saturday, but the knock- on effects are extremely serious. The Boxing Day return to Level 4 – which much of Scotland had just left – is yet more devastating news for the high street and independent traders.

Of course, none of this stopped Nicola Sturgeon from resorting to her default mode of constitutional conflict.

Seizing on the confusion at Dover, she lobbied for an extension to the Brexit talks. Yet her own separatist agenda and plan for another referendum on independence would inflict irreparable economic harm.

Truly, it’s the bleakest of midwinters – and it’s not helped by leadership that’s erratic, incompetent and inconsistent.

Happily, the disruption in Kent won’t put a halt to the vaccination programme – and more than 500,000 doses have been administered in the UK so far. With Christmas effectively cancelled for so many of us, it’s easy to be pessimistic – but it’s important to remember that the precious vaccine represents our eventual salvation.