Medics may advise but ministers must decide

sir – The most chilling phrase in the Prime Minister’s letter to all households about Covid-19 (report, March 29) is that the Government “will not hesitate” to follow any further scientific and medical advice.

Yet whenever any government receives advice, especially advice with devastating consequences for everyday lives, it surely has a duty to hesitate, not least so it can properly understand the assumptions, challenge the rationale, reflect on the social and economic consequences, probe the broader healthcare implications – for example, on cancer treatment and mental health – and reach a reasonable and rounded judgment.

Otherwise, we are no longer in a world where “ministers decide, advisers advise”, and we might as well install the chief medical officer in 10 Downing Street.

Laurence Smith

Brimpton Common, Berkshire

sir – It stretches credibility when government spokesmen claim that Britain was one of the best prepared countries in the world to deal with the coronavirus, when evidence from the front line is the opposite – the lack of personal protective equipment (report, March 30) being a very obvious example. Who is responsible for this disastrous situation?

John Bailey

Burwash Weald, East Sussex

sir – It is interesting that, quite rightly, NHS staff are complaining about a lack of personal protective equipment.

Supermarket checkout staff are issued with gloves only. They are often less than two metres from shoppers.

The checkouts are, slowly, being fitted with screens but, if we are unable to buy food because of supermarket staff shortages, where would we be?

Julian Mogford

Norwich