To beat this inhuman disease means going against the instincts that make us human

This is an inhuman disease. Not only is it killing hundreds of human beings every day, but the way it strikes – and the people it strikes – targets the essence of what it means to be a human being. It forces us to kill all of the instincts that make us good and kind people.

Today is Mothering Sunday. Millions of people should be seeing their mothers, and millions of mothers should be rejoicing in the sight of their children. I should be seeing my mother. Every atom within me is pulling me towards my parents’ house to see her, to check that she is all right and not be afraid to hold her and allow myself to be held by her in the face of a fear beyond anything we had ever imagined before. But I can’t. I mustn’t.

For I may bring death in my touch, in my kiss, in my breath as I speak. The people we care most for, we must care for by not seeing, not touching, not speaking to directly; even if this means we shall never touch them again in this life. This is an inhuman disease.

The same is true in my church. All my instincts say, summon the faithful! Hold more services! Light more candles! Light a whole forest of candles! We want vigils and music and all the old rituals and prayers which fortified our ancestors as they faced plague. But I can’t – and mustn’t.

Because mingled with those prayers would be the very death we pray to avoid; the virus using our best instincts against us.

And the sick: they cannot be visited; not because of me (I’m young enough that even my bad habits haven’t yet left me in the vulnerable category) but because having visited one, I am immediately a risk to every other person I meet. Not only does this disease use our best instincts against ourselves, it deprives those it most endangers of the comforts they most want. It leaves the most frightened to be afraid alone. It is truly inhuman.

But the light shines in the darkness. And the darkness cannot overcome it.

The disease might be inhuman but it doesn’t need to make us inhumane. A disease that pushes us into isolation is almost crafted to make us prioritise ourselves, to be willing to beggar our neighbour to ensure our own salvation (earthly salvation, that is), is one that could tear those bonds of humanity which bind us together. We see this in the burning of hospitals full of coronavirus victims in Iran, the stoning of buses full of coronavirus refugees in Ukraine, and in the shop shelves stripped bare in Britain, long before the truly vulnerable have had a chance to buy anything.

But this isn’t how we have to behave. That’s entirely down to us. The instincts that simultaneously draw us to our parents and force us to stay away from them are instincts which should propel us to use all the skills and technologies we can master in order to triumph over this pestilence with our humanity enhanced. To work out how to love our friends and our families from a distance, how to offer help and support to those who need it, how to pray with people even when we can’t see them.

Nearly 900 years ago, my predecessor, Rahere, a jester in Henry I’s court, saw a city still reeling from the Norman Conquest, with a vast execution site, but no hospital. In 1123 he got up and founded London’s first hospital, a part of his Priory of St Bartholomew, which has ministered to the poor of the City of London ever since, in terms very familiar to us today: free at the point of delivery, free at the point of demand – from the very beginning. Being built right next to the execution field, where William Wallace, Wat Tyler and dozens of Protestant and Catholic martyrs would lose their lives, the hospital and church have seen their share of misery.

But over these nine centuries both have witnessed to the essential goodness of man and point us to the way we can help each other over these coming months: to see where people are in need and to work out how to help. It will be lovely to celebrate the 900th anniversary of Barts in 2023, and something we can look forward to.

St Bartholomew’s Hospital, and hundreds of hospitals across the country, will be on the front line, saving the human body as best they can. But the rest of us have a deeper mission on the Home Front: to keep alive the human spirit. So that when we can meet our loved ones once more, we will see in them, and they will see in us, human beings worthy of love.

This is an inhuman disease, but it will not make us lose our humanity.

The Rev Marcus Walker is rector of St Bartholomew The Great Church in the City of London

Every day, we are reporting snippets of comfort as the world fights coronavirus

UK businesses and institutions are rallying behind the NHS. Cambridge University colleges is offering up rooms to key staff, urging students to return home if they can. Meanwhile, Chatsworth is offering free entry to the garden. Also, in its last act before closing down, a Thai restaurant in Belfast cooked its remaining stock and took it to the Royal Victoria Hospital for workers.

Hotels in central London will offer beds to rough sleepers to help protect them against the coronavirus. A trial this weekend will offer 300 beds to people known to homelessness charities.

A Brussels chocolatier called Frederic Blondeel is delivering emergency chocolate to quarantined and self-isolating Brussels residents. A US Catholic priest is offering drive-through and contact-free confessions outside his Maryland chapel. And a stables in Teddington, west London, is taking its ponies to the windows of people in isolation in order to “spread some smiles”.

Tens of thousands of gallons of ethyl alcohol seized from criminals in Poland will be released by the authorities so it can be converted into disinfectant. The prosecutor’s office said 95,000 gallons will be thrown into the fight against the pandemic.

After reporting no new domestic cases in Wuhan on Thursday, and infections dropping sharply, restrictions across China are starting to ease. Shanghai’s shopping district has reopened and residents in Beijing have been taking to the streets, albeit cautiously. It has sparked hope of life returning to normality.

Pop stars have come forward to perform virtual concerts live via Instagram to raise money for the World Health Organisation’s Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund. On Friday Hozier, OneRepublic, Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello performed sets, following Chris Martin, John Legend and Niall Horan earlier in the week. The WHO also launched a WhatsApp health alert service, to give users the latest figures and information on how to protect themselves.

British technology firm Smiths Group has pledged to make one of its ventilators available for other manufacturers to produce as the UK attempts to tackle the shortage of life-saving equipment.

Finally, a UK campaign to “clap for carers” is being shared on social media. It calls for people to join in applause from their “front doors, garden, balcony, windows, living room” on March 26 at 8pm to “show all nurses, doctors, GPs and carers our appreciation for their ongoing hard work and fight against the virus”.

Harriet Barber

‘Every atom within me is pulling me to my parents’ house to see my mother and check that she is all right’