“The British people may find themselves invoking the spirit of the Blitz for some time to come”
When Health Secretary Matt Hancock evoked the Blitz spirit as coronavirus began its onslaught in mid-March, the thought that the casualty rate would exceed that of the Nazis’ air attacks — as it did when COVID-19 deaths topped 40,000 over the weekend — was unimaginable.
But as daily deaths fall to around 200, and shops prepare to reopen on June 15, attention across the country, including in the hard-hit Jewish community, has shifted to the “home front” and the economic toll of the months-long lockdown.
“We are likely to face a severe recession, the likes of which we haven’t seen, and it isn’t obvious that there’ll be an immediate bounce-back,” Chancellor Rishi Sunak told the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee last month.
Even as the Financial Times ranked Britain second only to Spain in coronavirus deaths per capita among Western nations, another link between the two countries emerged.
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