The epidemic we all feared is now well and truly here.
Deaths doubled today. And the 1,140 now suffering will be 10 times that shortly.
So it is quite right for the GMB union and Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth to demand the requisitioning of beds in the nation’s 570 private hospitals.
And it is quite right for Boris Johnson to order the NHS to buy up those beds before its hospitals are overwhelmed.
Now the PM must agree to Jeremy Corbyn’s request for an urgent meeting to ensure the low-paid can weather this crisis financially.
The Labour leader wants sick pay increased and rent deferrals so tenants can’t be evicted.
He wants mortgage holidays so lenders can’t take action against homeowners.
And he wants benefit claimants protected by scrapping face-to-face Universal Credit interviews and sanctions.
Local authorities will also need support so foodbanks can maintain supplies to those most in need of it.
These are not unreasonable demands. They would be a given in wartime.
And we are at war. Against an invisible killer we cannot defeat because we do not yet have the weapons to fight with.
The best we can do is help each other get through what will be a dreadful ordeal for many.
It is essential at a time of national emergency that the Government and Opposition work hand in hand – as they did in World War II.
Because this time we really are all in it together.
