Testing: Now action this day

The key to lockdown’s unlocking

IT IS now clear, in the wake of Boris Johnson’s speech to the nation, that the lifting of the Covid-19 lockdown is not going to happen overnight.

It will take time – and public health concerns forced the PM to revise his plans after suggesting, intemperately, at Prime Minister’s Questions last week that some restrictions would be lifted by this morning.

He has had to think again and should be grateful that the country remains largely compliant since he used his last prime-time TV address seven weeks ago to implore families to ‘stay at home’.

But public patience is becoming strained and Ministers do need to be far clearer in their advice, and objectives, after changing their mantra to ‘stay alert’.

They’re right to recognise the economic anxiety as Britain confronts its worst financial crash in over 300 years – the country will, regrettably and inevitably, never be the same again.

However the very fact that Mr Johnson felt the need to make such a speech, and harness the spirit of Britain expressed so eloquently by the Queen on two separate occasions now, also showed that the Government is not yet on top of this pandemic.

Though the PM did warn on March 23 that “many lives will be lost”, no one envisaged that UKwide number exceeding 30,000 and counting. Neither did they foresee the Government neglecting the plight of the country’s care homes. And nor did they envisage Ministers failing to sufficiently accelerate its mass testing programme for the virus.

Never mind Mr Johnson’s aspiration of 200,000 tests a day, last month’s target of 100,000 has still to be fulfilled.

In short, many more lives – and jobs – will be lost until more robust testing arrangements are in place to respond to this national emergency’s unique demands. It is still the key to unlocking the lockdown. And to paraphrase the PM’s wartime hero Winston Churchill: “Action this day.”