Defending the delay in imposing the lockdown, Boris Johnson claimed: “I think it was completely right to make our period of lockdown coincide … with the peak of the epidemic” (Johnson promises plan next week for return to schools and work, 30 April). Is he really not aware that it was the timing of the lockdown that determined the timing of the peak, not the other way around? Had the lockdown started sooner, the peak would have occurred sooner, fewer people would have been infected, fewer people would have died, and restrictions could have been eased more quickly. If the prime minister doesn’t understand this elementary principle, he should not be entrusted with making decisions upon which our lives depend.
Robert Saunders
Balcombe, West Sussex
• How does Boris Johnson dare claim that we are “past the peak” of this epidemic? Johns Hopkins University says the number of new Covid-19 cases in the UK in the last five days was 4,695, 4,642, 4,597, 4,543 and 4,748. Doesn’t look like we are past the peak to me!
Christiane Maher
North Berwick, East Lothian
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
• Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters
