No room for error in Government's decisions over coronavirus - The Yorkshire Post says

As of yesterday, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced accusations that he was too slow to respond in the early stages of the pandemic, the virus had claimed the lives of more than 16,000 people across the nation, leaving heartache and devastation for each of their loved ones.

It is, of course, an unprecedented time, navigated by no UK government before.

The report, published on a day when it emerged that new coronavirus cases were in the single digits in South Korea – a country where there has been prompt contact tracing and widespread testing, including of those who are asymptomatic – claimed that Mr Johnson had not attended five meetings of the key Government Cobra committee in the build-up to the coronavirus outbreak.

Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove leapt to his defence, claiming the idea that he “skipped” meetings that were vital to the coronavirus response was “grotesque”, whilst Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth suggested that the Prime Minister had been “missing in action” early on, “when the whole world could see how serious this was becoming”.

Clearly, the Government is under immense pressure to respond to an ever-changing and unfamiliar situation – and there is much to learn in facing such a challenge. However, when lives are at stake, there is no room for error.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

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Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor