Time to stay at home – or else

Social distancing: PM had to act

THE PRIME Minister’s emergency address to the nation could be summised by the six short words on a Yorkshire roadside sign as the coronavirus crisis deepened: “Keep NHS staff safe. Go home.”

Enforced social distancing that – for now – falls just short of a total lockdown, Boris Johnson had to act swiftly after so many people appeared to defy medical advice.

And while the new protocols, like banning public gatherings of more than two people and shutting stores that sell nonessential items, are contrary to the PM’s libertarian instincts, the health of the nation is at stake. Even churches are being closed for at least three weeks and weddings cancelled.

“Without a huge national effort to halt the growth of this virus, there will come a moment when no health service in the world could possibly cope; because there won’t be enough ventilators, enough intensive care beds, enough doctors and nurses,” he warned.

Enforcement is now key – but, hopefully, it won’t come to this. For, if people don’t comply with Mr Johnson’s “very simple instruction” to “stay at home”, more people will die – the UK death toll now stands at 335 – and freedom of movement curtailed for even longer.

Yet, for the record, liberalism won’t save lives – even Labour recognised this as MPs began to debate the Coronavirus Bill which will give the Government further powers.

All it will do is put the NHS – and all those involved in this extraordinary emergency effort – under even greater strain as hospitals around the world become overwhelmed by the speed with which this deadly respiratory disease can spread unless stringent precautions are in place.

As Mr Johnson said, every individual can make a difference – and, potentially, save lives. And that means staying at home – and putting the national interest before self-interest – in the biggest peacetime challenge to confront Britain.