The second daily coronavirus press conference was, Boris Johnson said, primarily focused on the government’s plans to protect the economy against the expected hit. But, woven throughout his and the chancellor’s address, was language designed to prepare the country for the prospect that the fight against the coronavirus would require putting the country a wartime footing.
The prime minister said:
This is a disease that is so dangerous and so infectious that without drastic measures to check its progress it would overwhelm any health system in the world. I have used the Italian health system, it is excellent, and the problem is not the health system, it’s the numbers of sufferance.
That is why we announced the steps yesterday that we did – advising against all unnecessary contact – steps that are unprecedented since world war two.
We must act like any wartime government and do whatever it takes to support our economy. That’s the main purpose of this press conference this afternoon.
Yes this enemy can be deadly, but it is also beatable – and we know how to beat it and we know that if as a country we follow the scientific advice that is now being given we know that we will beat it.
And however tough the months ahead we have the resolve and the resources to win the fight.
His tone was echoed by the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, who said:
The coronavirus pandemic is a public health emergency but it is also an economic emergency. We have never in peacetime faced an economic fight like this one.