The reason why did Britain get its coronavirus response so wrong was embedded in Boris’s obsession for Brexit. Even as the warnings grew louder, he was busy working out the strategy for Brexit and in the process the UK ignored the need to prepare the country on testing, contact tracing and equipment supply.

The abject failure of the capitalist economy could be made out from the fact that even today when the death toll due to the dreaded virus has reached to 16060 it is yet to arm its front line fighters with necessary equipment. They are forced to share the PPEs.

By December while the doctors in the Chinese city of Wuhan were worried about patients quarantined in their hospitals suffering from an unusual type of pneumonia, the Boris government was least concerned. At the swift spread of the disease while the UK scientists and medical researchers were becoming more concerned and jittery and studying the evidence from China, Boris was not attentive to their messages and fears. At that point of time Boris was basking in his electoral victory and his government had other preoccupations.

The UK was destined to leave the EU on January 31. Obviously the focus of Boris was not on corona. He was preparing to be mentioned in the pages of history as the Iron Man of Britain. During those days even his chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, was not bothered; “it was not a major challenge. The country will overcome the crisis”.

It was on February 13 after becoming the health secretary Matt Hancock pledged to fight corona. On that day he spoke of “dealing with coronavirus and keeping the public safe”. Boris cannot deny that his government was caught asleep on the wheels.

The situation turned for a better only after Boris Johnson contracted the virus. It was during his stay in hospital that he came to realise the intensity of threat from corona. Recent reports suggest that the lockdown could continue till May. Boris Johnson, now a changed person, nurses the view that ending a lockdown at this stage would risk a second deadly spike. Around 800 to 900 persons were losing their lives to the dreaded disease.

The death toll continues to rise as the pandemic nears its peak. For Prime Minister avoiding a second peak is now the government's top priority. He said; "The big concern is a second peak and that will do the most damage to health and the economy”.

In a significant development two-thirds of Brits (66%) want Boris Johnson to extend the Brexit transition period and focus completely on fighting the coronavirus, according to a new poll for campaign groups Best For Britain and Hope. The poll published on Sunday evening said nearly half of Brexit voters (49%) and Conservative voters (48%) support extending the transition period. Even Nicola Sturgeon's Scottish government today urged the UK government to extend the transition period by two years, the maximum length allowed by the Withdrawal Agreement. The Scottish economy cannot afford the double hit of COVID-19 and the growing likelihood of a 'no deal', or at best a hard Brexit deal, in less than nine months' time.

Yet another factor for changing his stance on coronavirus has the severe public criticism for not attending the high level COBRA meeting on coronavirus. Brits criticized his work ethic, referencing his decision to spend two weeks in January at the prime minister's grace-and-favour mansion Chevening with his fiancée Carrie Symonds.

From the development it is clear that he had Brexit and free trade much more on his mind than corona. Any hint of major action to fight coronavirus that might hurt the economy was the last thing he was entertaining. By March it was abundantly clear to academics and scientists that the approach being adopted by Johnson was quite different from those followed by other countries. Testing and contact tracing has been at the heart of the approach advocated by the WHO, but this was not happening in the UK.

Writing in the Observer last month, Devi Sridhar, chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, noted the distinct UK approach. “Rather than learning from other countries and following the WHO advice, which comes from experts with decades of experience in tackling outbreaks across the world, the UK has decided to follow its own path. The plan, as explained by the chief science adviser, is to work towards ‘herd immunity’, which is to have the majority of the population contract the virus, develop antibodies and then become immune to it.”

It was not just the UK whose politicians and scientific advisers were slow to act in the early stages of the crisis. The reason being cited for slow action was the lingering fear of public reaction; they might react badly to lockdown measures and would not tolerate them for long. In an apparent show of defiance against the lockdowners, Johnson and Carrie Symond attended the England v Wales rugby match at Twickenham on 7 March.

Tony Blair, the former Labour prime minister, has criticised Johnson for his casual approach to the disease. With the virus spreading fast the loss of jobs has become a major problem. To meet the challenge the Labour has called for major changes to universal credit to ensure low-income families hit by the coronavirus lockdown receive sufficient financial support throughout the crisis.

Universal credit has become a main focus of state financial support for many families since the lockdown, with more than 1.4 million people signing up for the benefit since mid-March, most having either lost their job or seen their self-employment opportunities shrink.

Meanwhile Keir Starmer, the new Labour leader, is pushing for a government strategy on the return of schools and getting businesses back to work after the lockdown, as he raised concerns about it causing inequalities. He said his party would support whatever measures were necessary to bring down the UK’s death rate. But he said it was essential for more details to be disclosed about how the government plans to leave the lockdown, as ministers would need to start planning for the availability of mass community testing.

There is now the terrible possibility that Britain may match or even overtake Italy and Spain as the country in Europe that suffers most from the coronavirus pandemic. This tragedy has a political, as well as a biological, epidemiology. To conceal it failures, the sources allege that Boris administration has been warning the doctors and nurses from speaking out about widespread shortages of personal protective equipment that would risk their lives from the coronavirus. According to a dossier of evidence collated by the Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK) they have been receiving “threatening” emails.

“Doctors across the frontlines are extremely concerned about the lack of personal protective equipment PPE. Many have told us they have tried to raise concerns through the proper channels but have been warned against taking these concerns further,” said Dr Samantha Batt Rawden, DAUK’s president. (IPA Service)