The Observer view on the coronavirus crisis: the toll that is a warning to us all | Observer editorial

Torn between saving lives and rebuilding the economy, the government is sending out dangerously mixed messages

It was always going to get worse before it got better. But three weeks after Britain went into lockdown, the official death toll, certainly an underestimate, is unbearably bleak: the daily toll is nudging a thousand; total deaths stand at almost 10,000. That is 10,000 people who have had their lives cut short; 10,000 people who have left behind grieving partners, parents, siblings, children, most of whom would not have even been able to be there with them when they died. The scale of it is hard to comprehend.

There are early signs that three weeks of stringent social distancing measures may be starting to slow the growth in infection rates, a testament to the fact that the vast majority of the public have done as they were asked. Thanks to the superhuman efforts of frontline medical staff and a concerted push to expand critical care capacity, the NHS has not been overwhelmed to the point where the critically ill are being turned away from intensive care.