Editorial Comment:
TESTABLISHED 1855 he Government’s Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (Sage) will meet today formally to review the duration of the coronavirus lockdown and it is expected to maintain the restrictions for another three weeks at least.
We trust that such a stark message will be leavened with some idea of when they might be eased. As is happening elsewhere in Europe, it is critical for public morale that some potential dates or benchmarks are given for a gradual return to normality.
Even if they turn out to be premature, people would at least have a sense that we are getting somewhere. At the Downing Street news conference, Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, said the NHS was able to cope with coronavirus.
Ensuring intensive care capacity was originally given as the main reason for the lockdown but the Government’s policy has shifted. Mr Hancock said the controls would not now be lifted until it was “safe to do so”. But what does that mean and when will that be?
Since the latest data suggests we are close to the peak of this contagion, the Government must have a general idea of when the next phase is to be reached and should share it with the country. At least one rule is being relaxed – the families of those reaching the end of their lives are to be given a chance to say goodbye. That is a start.
One of the key elements to managing a return to normality will be the availability of testing, both for the disease and for the antibodies in those who have had it but were unaware.
The Government has been promising to “ramp up” testing to 100,000 a day by the end of this month. Yet there is no sign that mass testing will be available by then. Even rolling out targeted testing to eligible medical and care home staff (only now being offered after a national outcry) has been too slow.
This makes it even harder to understand why private laboratories are sitting idle having offered their services to the NHS and Public Health England only to be given the cold shoulder.
This inexplicable failure to harness the full technical expertise of the private sector and academia at a time of national crisis is why we called for the appointment of a Beaverbrook-style figure to drive the testing programme forward with the urgency required. We are still waiting.