Danger to hospitals

sir – In former times, it would have been unthinkable to admit a patient with an infectious disease as serious as coronavirus into a general hospital (let alone intensive care), where they pose an enormous risk to both staff and other patients.

This is akin to deliberately lighting a fire in the hold of a ship.

Instead, although we no longer have isolation hospitals, there are numerous sufficiently isolated disused airfields and military facilities that could now serve the purpose.

Dr Andrew Norman

Poole, Dorset

sir – The banking crisis provoked panic and the rescue of failed institutions, which resulted in more than 10 years of austerity from which we have still not fully recovered.

Today, politicians have agreed to draconian limits on our freedoms, the spending of vast sums of money and the cessation of businesses that might generate the money to pay for it all.

Those left after this episode will be paupers, facing austerity and unimaginable tax bills. This “lockdown” is designed not for our protection but for the protection of an NHS that cannot cope.

Dr Steven R Hopkins

Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire

sir – If we are to get our economy back on track as fast as possible, as well as testing for the virus, we need to test for antibodies, so that people who have recovered can get back to work.

Eric Harpham

Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire

sir – There are calls for RFA Argus, the Royal Navy’s only hospital ship, to be used in the fight against coronavirus (report, March 23, telegraph.co.uk). The ship has previously been used for disaster relief in the Caribbean and to fight Ebola in East Africa, as well as for other emergencies.

RFA Argus will reach the end of its useful life in just a few years, yet there are no plans to replace it. In the light of current events, and the obvious need for such a ship in times of both peace and war, I hope this decision will be reversed with all possible speed.

Peter Stockwell

Wilburton, Cambridgeshire