Even if Sturgeon and Johnson got things wrong over Covid, they are right about this – leader comment

Nicola Sturgeon and Boris Johnson are right to urge public not to waver in commitment to the lockdown.

Boris Johnson warned of 'economic disaster' if lockdown is lifted too early (Picture: Pippa Fowles/10 Downing Street/AFP via Getty Images)

The announcement from New Zealand was stunning. After 19 deaths and fewer than 1,500 suspected Covid-19 coronavirus cases, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern claimed the virus had been effectively eliminated.

Clearly this is a very different country on the other side of the world, but it does beg the question of what would have happened in the UK if New Zealand’s early and swift reaction to the outbreak had been carried out here. According to Labour’s Shadow Scottish Secretary Ian Murray, both the UK and Scottish governments were too slow. He even suggested that 95 per cent of cases and deaths could have been prevented if the lockdown had been imposed two weeks earlier.

But, however we got into our current situation, we must focus on dealing with it in the best way we can. Arguments about what went wrong and how to do better if there is a next time are best left for a later date.

And, right now, the best way is still the same: the lockdown, social distancing and handwashing.

It was clear from statements by both Nicola Sturgeon and Boris Johnson that they are worried about public support. The First Minister warned Scots must “stick with it” or the virus could “surge upwards again”.

And Johnson described this as the “moment of maximum risk” noting that many people were starting to “wonder whether now is the time to go easy on those social distancing measures”. However this, he said, would risk “economic disaster”.

The lockdown’s effects on the economy have been profound and the longer it goes on the worse the damage will be. Just as lives are at risk, so are people’s livelihoods – and the links between poverty and ill-health are serious and real.

Companies may well be starting to feel somewhat desperate. But, rather than being moved to call for an end to the lockdown, they and government officials should be working together to find ways to do what business they can while abiding by the current restrictions and how this could be increased when it is possible to begin a relaxation.

We need to minimise the length of time we remain subject to these extraordinary controls on our freedom. But lifting the restrictions too early would allow the virus to take hold in the population once again, potentially putting us back to square one. This is tough but, as the First Minister said, we must “stick with it”.

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