Boris Johnson’s illness united Britain in fight against coronavirus
The illness of a man who once divided the nation over Brexit has brought it together at the darkest of times.
World
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Boris Johnson has done more for his country lying flat on his back than he ever could have if he was chairing all the emergency coronavirus meetings.
The British Prime Minister has been locked in intensive care this week, stripped of his two mobile phones.
There were grave fears for his health when he was upgraded into a high care unit at St Thomas’ Hospital just across the Thames from Westminster.
He could not demand more testing in the UK and keep track of all the latest hospital admissions, let alone consider plans for an exit to the nation’s almost three-week lockdown.
In doing nothing, he’s done everything.
And then came the good news that his condition had improved and he was downgraded to a general ward, just minutes before the UK went out to the streets to applaud health workers in a now weekly tradition.
The country has rallied around Mr Johnson at a time when it was needed most.
Updates on his condition have grabbed most of the headlines, hammering home the message that people needed to stay at home just as the sun comes out for the Easter weekend.
And frustratingly, while thousands of people die, and millions lose their jobs, staying home is the only band aid for this worldwide crisis.
There are significant problems with the UK’s response to the coronavirus.
Nurses who had to wear bin bags for protection because of a shortage of equipment have now tested positive for the virus.
Floods of tears flowed for 29-year-old nurse Rebecca Mack who died at home.
She had called an ambulance and left the door open, but she was gone by the time they had arrived.
There are still nowhere near enough ventilators, and the testing regime has been woeful.
The National Health Service (NHS) doctors and nurses have been risking their lives, but history will not judge kindly their middle managers who have muddled the supply chain of personal protective equipment.
I pray that the goodwill shown towards the medical staff will not cloud a much needed review asking hard questions of the NHS and whether it really is the best model – it’s more socialist than China.
The publicly-funded NHS employs 1.5 million people, and there has been a reluctance to bring in the private sector to help with testing.
China’s dodgy antibody tests have not helped – the 17.5 million the UK had on order simply don’t work and now the UK has been starting from scratch.
However, the lockdown was showing signs of working, despite the UK recording 938 deaths on Wednesday this week – higher than any daily total in Italy’s outbreak.
London is now a ghost town, Piccadilly Circus’ famous advertising boards have been switched from selling Coke to the Queen’s coronavirus message.
The nation’s 60 million people have all become a bit like Cary Grant in Hitchcock’s 1954 movie Rear Window, but without the broken leg.
One of my kids has shown symptoms of the illness, but is fine. We haven’t even left the house to get some milk. Thank God for delivery services.
Most people have been staying inside, passengers on the Tube are down more than 90 per cent, although there have still been some sunbathers breaking the rules.
Saturday will be the real test – 25 degrees and bright sunshine in a country coming out of hibernation for winter.
Boris, the only politician known by his first name in headlines, has given the nation something to focus on.
A letter arrived from him this week, which was sent to 28 million homes.
And for a government document, it was refreshingly written in English, something people could understand unlike the rubbish I received from my local council last week.
“It’s important for me to level with you – we know things will get worse before they get better,” he wrote.
That was typed before he went into hospital, who knew he would be so right.