Mixed messages strengthen suspicions that coronavirus policy is being driven by politics

Some believe the increasingly confusing guidelines are a deliberate plot to trick the public into going back to life as normal for the sake of the economy, writes Andrew Woodcock

A 14-day quarantine period has been reimposed for visitors coming from Spain (AFP/Getty)

Once it was all so straightforward. “Stay home, save lives” was a message anyone could understand and most – apparently more than the government was expecting – complied with.

But as the UK withdrew from lockdown, it was bound to get more complicated. And this was the week when the messages got so mixed that frankly it takes a furrowed brow and a concentrated period of textual analysis before anyone can be sure exactly what they are supposed to be doing.

Just days before we are told we should be going back to our workplaces, chilling warnings emerge from Boris Johnson and his ministers about a second wave of infections sweeping our way.