Boris has levelled with us at last and britain is braced for the battle ahead  | thearticle

It is a blessed relief that Boris Johnson has finally taken the country that elected him into his trust. “I must level with the British public: many more families are going to lose loved

ones before their time.” Flanked by the Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, and the Chief Medical Officer, Chris Whitty, the Prime Minister spelled out to a press conference the

Government’s strategy to defeat coronavirus. What emerged was surprising to many and reassuring to few, but it was bold and it was carefully thought through. With the delaying measures now

in place, experts expect the epidemic to peak in June, but with a much flatter “sombrero” than might otherwise occur. Johnson rejected “draconian” restrictions as counter-productive, based

on epidemiological modelling that aims to create a “herd immunity” over the course of the outbreak. Premature attempts to suppress Covid-19 risk leaving the population vulnerable to a second

outbreak next winter. The NHS is preparing for the numbers diagnosed to increase rapidly in coming weeks, given that it is likely that already some 10,000 people are carrying the virus.

Testing will be stepped up from the 30,000 level reached so far. Above all, self-isolation is recommended for anyone who has a high temperature (defined as 37.8 degrees C) and/or a new and

persistent cough. Those aged 70 or more are advised not to go on cruises and to take other precautions; importantly, however, the advice does not include staying indoors. The mass psychology

of epidemics suggests that in a free society such as the UK, forcing entire sections of the population to quarantine themselves will fail. It is neither possible nor desirable to impose

such a lockdown at this stage. Crashing the economy is in any case hardly conducive to keeping the country calm and healthy. The stock markets have played their depressingly familiar role of

adding to an atmosphere of panic. The 30 per cent fall in the London markets since January is the steepest in any three-month period since the South Sea Bubble burst in 1720. Do investors

really expect the world to go to Hell? They are certainly giving it a push in that direction. But complaining about the stock markets is as pointless as lamenting the cruel and unusual

animal markets that gave rise to Covid-19 in the first place. We are where we are. Boris Johnson is at last demonstrating the kind of leadership of which he is capable. He should give more

public briefings such as Thursday’s and thereby show that he has nothing to hide. But it is not always necessary to have the Prime Minister on stage. The Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, is

an effective public performer and could do the job. Most importantly, we need to see more of Sir Chris and Sir Patrick, so that the innumerable questions that torment us can be answered by

the experts responsible. There will, of course, be criticism and that is how it should be. After one failed Tory leadership candidate, Rory Stewart, complained that the Prime Minister was

not closing down schools, another of that salon_ des refusés _has now taken aim at him. As a former Health and Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt deserves to be taken seriously, but he too is

essentially demanding that Britain follow the far-Eastern model.  Yet as the Prime Minister explained yesterday, closing schools solves one problem only to create another. Children sent home

from school are often looked after by grandparents, who are among the most vulnerable groups. There may come a time when isolating elderly relatives becomes necessary, though that is not

yet indicated. Millions of children on the loose are just as likely to spread the virus outside their classrooms as in them. As for Taiwan and Thailand, the other countries cited by Hunt as

preferable models, it is too soon to say whether he is correct that they have been “strikingly successful” in dealing with coronovirus. Once the genie is out of the bottle, there is no way

to put it back in again. Rather, we need to develop resistance and, in due course, a vaccine and effective treatments. It is a cliché to say that this crisis is a test of leadership, but at

least we now know how to judge that leadership. Boris Johnson came across as competent, eloquent and suitably deferential towards the eminent boffins on either side of him. Heaven knows, we

need to be able to trust this triumvirate. The penny has dropped that thousands of lives are at stake. Britain is now braced for the battle ahead. This is no longer a phoney war. This is the

real thing.