We are at a crucial juncture over coronavirus – clear government communication is essential

Editorial: Persuasion requires confidence that the restrictions are well-timed, proportionate and necessary. The government is weak on all three counts

New rules about social gatherings have come into force (Getty)

Covid-19 infections are rising across much of Europe as well as the UK, and while deaths mercifully remain very much lower than during the spring, it would be realistic to expect that they too will rise in the weeks ahead. 

This is what the medical profession fears when it comes to a coronavirus second wave – and its fears should be taken very seriously indeed. The government – and Boris Johnson of course – is well aware of this, hence the growing list of countries to which travel is advised only in essential cases, and the six-person rule for meetings that came into force yesterday. 

It is rightly anxious to avoid the mistakes it made in the early weeks of the pandemic, when it delayed imposing restrictions and thereby almost certainly failed to save lives.