Our report from the coronavirus front line spells out why the lockdown must stay

Editorial: It is true that there are hopeful signs, and clear evidence that these indicators are decelerating. But we should err on the side of saving lives

British medics are facing 'dangerously low levels' of PPE after the UK recorded Europe's highest daily hospital death toll (EPA)

Most people have got the key messages about coronavirus by now, but we make no apology for driving them home with our report today from the front line. Shaun Lintern, our award-winning health correspondent, has filed an unflinching dispatch that captures the exhaustion, stress, sadness and heroism of doctors, nurses and cleaners in a London intensive care unit running at close to capacity.

Anyone who seeks still to minimise the seriousness of the epidemic should be disabused by his account. There are people who believe, for example, that the numbers are exaggerated, or that most of the victims of the virus are people who are already ill and likely to die soon anyway. They should read the stories of so many young and previously healthy patients struck down.

Others believe that the lockdown and social distancing measures are an overreaction that will do more economic damage than is justified by the number of lives saved. Again, our report is essential reading. We hear from people working at the edge of their endurance, and it is frighteningly clear that, had drastic measures not been taken to slow the spread of the virus, the NHS would have been overwhelmed, first in London and then probably elsewhere.

We should be grateful that we live in a society that errs on the side of saving lives when making decisions about the trade-off between the threat from a disease about which much is still unknown and the problems of economic disruption.

Then again, there are some people – again, a small minority – who look at the apparent plateaus in graphs of new cases, patients in critical care and daily deaths and say that the lockdown is working and should be eased.

It is true that there are hopeful signs, and clear evidence that these indicators are decelerating. But again we should err on the side of saving lives. “The whole team is being pushed to their limit and you do wonder how long can this be sustained for,” Simon Richards, senior charge nurse at the Royal London’s critical care unit, tells The Independent. We cannot afford to ease the lockdown until the pressure on units such as this is reduced.

Finally, our report reinforces the view that this crisis calls for a revaluation of “key workers” when it is all over. Nurses, cleaners and support staff in the NHS are underpaid for the important work they do. The coronavirus outbreak must also put an end to the decades-long prevarication over social care – not just the chaos of its funding and its lack of integration with the NHS, but the undervaluing of its workforce.

And throughout the NHS and care sector we have seen again the importance of those who came to this country to make a contribution. Priti Patel, the home secretary, carried on last week setting out plans for a post-Brexit immigration policy as if nothing had happened; she really must think again.

These are questions for the future, but anyone reading our report knows we need to work on the answers now. In the meantime, it is a powerful reminder of why we should stay at home: to protect the NHS and save lives.