Boris lying low has been far too slow to address the coronavirus crisis

Pandemics tend not to have upsides. We all know that. Threats to the nation (and in this case to the world at large) caused by an unknown virus are a serious business, with deadly consequences for the worst affected.

But panic is never the answer. The arrival and likely spread of the coronavirus is best dealt with by those who know what they’re doing – doctors and scientists – ­ with the NHS as our front line.

It is a time to trust the experts, not question them. Let them do their work. We can ask questions afterwards.

All that having been said, there is one question to which many of us would like an answer.

Where’s Boris been?

The Prime Minister has been effectively absent without leave for the last two weeks.  We know that he met the prime minister of Croatia on Monday and wished him all success during his term as chair of the European Council. We know that he had coffee with the Austrian Chancellor on Tuesday. And then there were PMQs in the Commons, an assurance that “rough sleeping” would soon be a thing of the past and, of course, just yesterday, the publication of the UK’s position on future trade relations with the EU.

But in the last few weeks Johnson has hardly been seen in public. Barely a word about the coronavirus has passed his lips. Is he afraid he might catch it?

While the people of the United Kingdom are filled with anxiety over what might happen if the disease gets out of control, their elected leader seems to have decided that the best approach is to lie low and let the whole bally business pass over his head.

At the time of writing there is talk of an appearance or a statement. It had better be good.

On Thursday evening, out of the blue, he visited Kettering General Hospital, in Northamptonshire. He spoke to doctors and nurses, and then did a round of the wards, talking to patients, reassuring them that the NHS was safe in his hands and that everything was for the best in this best of all possible worlds.

No journalists were invited, so it is hard to know what was said. The word is that patients expressed their anger over the delays they had experienced before receiving treatment for their ailments. But so far as we know, the issue of the coronavirus did not come up.

On his way back to London, the PM could easily have visited several villages hard-hit by flooding, comforting some of those worst affected and shaking hands with emergency responders. He chose, apparently, not to do so.

This morning, back in Downing Street, with the gates shut, he (or possibly Dominic Cummings) announced that he would chair a meeting of Cobra, the Government’s crisis committee, on Monday to assess the threat posed by the coronavirus and what needs to be done to defeat it, or at least limit its spread.

Not today, note – that is, not Friday. But Monday – three days from now. Over the weekend, the likelihood is that Johnson will again relax in Chevening, his ad hoc country retreat. Not that he will have much time to catch up on The Front Line or Fleabag, or the latest Jack Reacher thriller. For there will be his “boxes” to deal with – assuming he’s doing them – nd any number of phone calls from ministers, MPs and top officials wanting to know what is going on and what he intends to do about it. I don’t envy him that.

But what is he doing about the Coronavirus? Has he decided, like Prince Harry, to “step back” and leave it to the experts? If so, it would still be nice if he gave us an assurance that he understood the fears of people and that he will take all necessary steps to protect them and their families.

This week, in the United States, we saw what happens when a national leader gives up on disease control. Donald Trump believes that the coronavirus is no worse than a dose of the flu. “Miraculously,” he says, the problem will go away when the warm weather returns in April … “at least I hope so”. As for a national strategy, the President has no plan. Since taking office, he has cut back savagely on the budget and resources of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. But don’t worry, he says, if the so-called experts are actually needed to control this thing, he can always re-hire them.

Let’s hope they are sitting by their phones.

This is not the route Britain wants to go down.

On January 31, the Prime Minister addressed the nation on the subject of Britain’s departure from the European Union.

“I know that we will succeed,” he said. “We have obeyed the people. We have taken back the tools of self-government. Now is the time to use those tools to unleash the full potential of this brilliant country and to make better the lives of everyone in every corner of our United Kingdom.”

Okay. We get it. But perhaps it is time he made a similar speech on a topic rather closer to home. The people of the UK need to know that their leader is on top of the present crisis and that he will leave no stone unturned in his search for an answer. We expect no less. And there will be hell to pay if he lets us down.