One thing is missing from the government’s coronavirus response: an endgame

The failures of Britain’s pandemic planning have been brutally exposed in the past few weeks. The scandalous lack of protective equipment for NHS workers, the failure to prepare for mass testing: there will be plenty of time, when this is over, to apportion blame for all this. But what is even more striking is the achievements of those in the military, the health service and public service who have — in a matter of days — done the seemingly impossible in preparing the NHS to cope with the virus.

A few weeks ago, the world was admiring the ability of the Chinese government to rapidly build a 1,000-bed hospital in Wuhan. Since then the NHS, the British Army and their partners in the private sector have made arrangements for 4,000 beds in a London exhibition centre. The NHS is now well-prepared for the expected surge in Covid-19 cases. Furthermore, the reorganisation within NHS wards has meant that 30,000 beds in existing hospitals have been re-allocated.