Tests, hypocrites and knowing it all

Stephen Glover argued that the greatest of the challenges facing Health Secretary Matt Hancock is the issue of testing.

To meet his target of testing 100,000 a day by the end of April next week he will have to achieve a five-fold increase in numbers in seven days, he said.

“Now I realise it’s easy enough to criticise from the side-lines, and I’ve no doubt Mr Hancock and his staff are working around the clock to deliver the promised tests,” he said, “but the fact remains that testing has been a fiasco.

“Germany, which has carried out about four times as many tests per 1,000 people, has been far more successful in curbing the disease. Rigorous and widespread testing partly explains the country’s significantly lower death rate.”

To add insult to injury, 17.5 million antibody tests ordered from China emerged to be faulty. Not Britain’s fault admittedly, he said – though he did ask why we were so dependent on foreign suppliers.

“Remember that one-third of those infected are believed to show no symptoms. It follows that hundreds, if not thousands, of nurses and doctors are unwittingly spreading the disease in hospitals because they have not been regularly tested,” he added.

“One way and another, it is surely obvious that the system is failing, and that NHS and other frontline workers are not getting the tests they require. As a result of faulty or non-existent tests, the contagion is spreading more freely than it should.

“Of all the challenges, this is the greatest. Only thorough testing will get us out of this crisis. As he recuperates at Chequers, the PM should reflect that the success of this Government, and the recovery of our nation, depend upon it.”

The Guardian

Clapping for the NHS and key workers every Thursday night has become the “defining ritual of the corona era,” said Owen Jones.

“In a society in which an estimated three-quarters of us don’t know our neighbours’ names, communities bound together by shared appreciation for vital workers risking their lives during this crisis should move the stoniest of hearts,” he said.

“When, therefore, government ministers applaud key workers who they have underpaid, whose social security entitlements they have slashed, whose health and lives have been imperilled by a lack of PPE, is it so impertinent to ask if they are clapping like they mean it?” he asked.

He said a hospital social care worker given a £720-a-year pay rise, leaving them feeling deflated and devalued, told him the clappings were “lovely” but said we all knew the Government would continue to view hospital and care workers as a financial hindrance and claim there was no future funding as it had all been spent on the pandemic.

“An A&E doctor tells me that the ‘whole PPE situation is just shambolic’, and that fellow medics laugh at the absurdity of a government that could have acted sooner, but chose not to. Is it surprising they are reduced to profanities when a Tory minister graces their TV screens?

“Too many of the now rightly lauded key workers will die because their own government failed in its most basic duty: to protect them. Don’t let the cheers, the clapping and the pots and pans drown that terrible truth out.”

Daily Express

Leo McKinstry applauded Henry Enfield’s creation Mr Know-All – whose tiresome, opinionated self-confidence is encapsulated in his catchphrase, “You didn’t want to do that”’ – as one of his finest.

“The coronavirus pandemic has bred a new regiment of know-alls. Unencumbered by professional qualifications and puffed up with their own importance, these critics use hindsight to launch continual attacks on the Government,” he said.

He said much of the criticism was unreasonable and appeared to be motivated by a political agenda to undermine the Government.

“Experts are divided over the use of face masks, ventilators, and drug treatments,” he added. “There are uncertainties over the methods of transmission.

“In these uncharted waters, it is absurd to claim ministers should know the right course.They are now accused of early inaction, yet the World Health Organization did not even declare a pandemic until March 11.”