Editorial Comment:

Britain’s response to the coronavirus is accelerating: the Government now says that mass gatherings are to be cancelled. Britain has chosen to get through this crisis in careful stages, urging calm all the way, and some will ask why this wasn’t done sooner. Others will call it an overreaction. “It is like seasonal flu,” say the doubters, “and when it is over, we will wonder what all the fuss was about.”

But Covid-19 is not just another flu. It spreads fast and appears to have a significant mortality rate among the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions. Even if one is not worried for one’s own health, we should be concerned for that of other people. None of that, however, justifies panic.

Worry is not irrational. It is good to be worried about one’s family and it is sensible to be worried for oneself. It is logical to ask if governments are doing all that they can and to scrutinise their every move – in fact, it is the very job of newspapers such as the Telegraph. But blind panic is unhelpful. If an aeroplane hits nasty turbulence, jumping up on the seat and shouting “We are all going to die!” won’t make a blind bit of difference. It might even do some damage.

Putting aside the debate around the Government’s measures, which are obviously going to evolve at some speed, the tone from the top remains appropriately calm and proportionate, with an emphasis upon the facts. Crises can turn experts into superstars. Britain is hanging on every word of England’s Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty, and he impresses not only because he knows his stuff but because he is so magnificently composed. If the opposite were true – if official advice were alarmist – it could easily spread panic, and that is when social systems break down.

We rely upon public services to keep the country going, yes, but also upon family, friends and strangers, all bound together by an invisible thread of trust. These relationships take years to build; the experience of war, famine and disease in other centuries and parts of the world proves that they can easily shatter.

So we have to keep our cool for the sake not only of ourselves but of wider society. Investors might be tempted to take their money and run, but if everyone did that then the economy would collapse. Shoppers might be tempted to bag every roll of loo paper they can carry, but if everyone did that then there could be serious shortages. And if every individual locked themselves away immediately, regardless of advice, Britain would grind to a halt.

The time will come, says the Government, when many of us will have to shut the front door and stay inside. It is not a happy prospect. Whenever there is a national crisis, our instinct is to come together, to seek solace in company and raise our spirits with humour. A virus, on the other hand, threatens isolation. Some businesses will discover how much greener and cheaper it can be to have employees work from home; some employees might find they enjoy going into the office after all. If people worry about having to sit indoors, they could always get on the phone and stay in touch with friends and relatives – many of whom might end up going through this national event entirely on their own. Epidemics can accentuate mental health problems and loneliness. As Sir Patrick Vallance, the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, said, it is at times like these that we need an outbreak of altruism.

The Government does seem to have chosen a very British, Blitz-spirit approach to the coronavirus, and one hopes that it is correct, not only because it might keep people safe but also because it validates the kind of level-headedness that modern societies do not value nearly enough. For a long time, popular culture has been melodramatic about things that perhaps were not that bad or even that important.

Now that a genuine crisis has hit, the right response is not to head for the hills but to be calm and carry on as much as possible, to acknowledge the problem and deal with it in an efficient and selfless manner.

We have to keep our cool for the sake not only of ourselves but for the sake of wider society