Send in the Coronavirus clowns

Editor,

The sheer incompetence of a government that lectures Britain on the importance of self distancing and washing hands to prevent the spread of Coronavirus, and now has Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummings, Health Secretary  Matt Hancock and Britain’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty all  self isolating with the disease!

Boris Johnson actually boasted he had been into hospitals and shaken the hands of Coronavirus victims, so the carrier who brought the infection into the heart of government is probably known!

Unfortunately these self inflicted problems are dwarfed by those they have inflicted on the country.

Front line NHS staff have been denied protective clothing and are dying.

Medical staff have been threatened and told they must not complain to the media about these deficiencies!

Other medical staff are forced to self isolate to prevent making the situation even worse.

Yet the government ignores offers of help with protective clothing from British companies!

Testing for the virus is critical  and has been stressed by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Despite repeated promises and reassurances for months, the government is still dragging its heels on testing. Even the USA managed 400,000 in less than a week, we struggle to test 5000 a day! 

Countries which have coped successfully with the virus, Germany and South Korea for example, have used widespread testing.

The uncertainty over ventilators is verging on farcical.

First the government wanted numerous manufacturers to produce them, then said they had enough.

They rejected the opportunity to be part of an EU consortium procuring ventilators, and ignored the opportunity for 25 from a British company. 

Yet then Boris Johnson was reportedly grovelling to Donald Trump, asking for ventilators!

This is a total omnishambles.

Key government personnel cannot follow their own medical advice, deny vital health workers essential protective clothing and threaten anyone who complains to the media, repeated delays essential testing, and bungles the ordering for ventilators.

In this time of crisis, we do not need a farce, Carry On Coronavirus, we need organised, clear leadership.

The fiasco over “herd immunity” left the U.K. struggling to catch up, instead of giving us the time to react in a measured, considered, well planned manner.

These clowns must resign. We need an experienced government of national unity. It is quite literally a matter of life and death.

Standing at a lectern and telling us how many new cases and how many have died, is not leadership, the government is totally out of its depth, floundering impotently.

Andrew Milroy

The views expressed are those of the author of the letter and not those of Oldham Chronicle.