Today on Coffee House

Assumptions made about the UK’s Covid-19 support packages are starting to unravel. When the Chancellor announced unprecedented spending to tackle the virus, he aimed to keep people in their jobs and mitigate an inevitable economic crash. But unemployment is soaring and the economy is contracting at a rapid pace, with growth figures set to plummet further than they did during the financial crash, and possibly even below that of the Great Depression.

When EU finance ministers ended their crisis meeting this morning, they had spent 16 hours trying to establish what collective help, if any, they wish to offer to the countries most affected by the epidemic: Spain and Italy. They agreed on not a thing. Instead, the meeting broke up acrimoniously with Italy, Spain and France demanding that the European Central Bank issue ‘coronabonds’ to help finance economic recovery – while Germany, the Netherlands and others resisted.

My grandmother, who has suffered from a major stroke, is bed ridden and barely compos mentis. She no longer has the cognitive ability to enjoy the relative intimacy of video calls on WhatsApp from well-wishers, or the simple pleasure of a Skype call with close family and friends. During this period of social distancing, her loneliness – now that visitors are not permitted in the home to prevent infection – is heart-breaking.

Asked at Tuesday’s evening briefing why Germany appears to have a lower coronavirus death rate than Britain, the Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty said: 'We all know that Germany got ahead in terms of its ability to do testing for the virus, and there’s a lot to learn from that.' Germany has the capacity for 500,000 tests a day, while our own government is promising only 100,000 tests a day by the end of April.