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While President Trump is being excoriated for his disastrous handling of the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S., the British media has largely let Boris Johnson off the hook.

Only now, after revelations at the weekend that Johnson was missing in action for five meetings of the Government’s weekly crisis meetings, has he been criticised.

This is despite the number of daily virus-related deaths in the UK soaring by mid-April to be second only to the USA, according to worldometers.info.

The site was reporting the number of new cases recorded in the UK each day was second only to the USA.

(Graph via Our World in Data)

The UK had a higher death rate per million population than the U.S.

It had the fifth-highest overall death rate in the world for countries with populations greater than 10 million.

Its rate of 237 deaths per million compared with 55 for Germany (which says it has the virus under control), 61 for Iran, 152 for much-criticised Sweden, 0.3 for Taiwan, 0.5 for Hong Kong and three for Australia.

The Johns Hopkins coronavirus site recorded the UK as having the second-highest death rate in the world for confirmed COVID-19 cases.

With more than 16,000 people in the UK killed by the virus, how on Earth did such carnage unfold?

As early as 10 February (according to the official UK Government site) Health Minister Matt Hancock warned of the crisis.

But still, Johnson could not be bothered taking control of the looming disaster, failing to attend the weekly crisis meetings.

The international crisis had developed to the point where on 2 March, more than 900 Italians were hospitalised with nearly 10% of them in intensive care.

Perhaps it was the dire warning by Professor Paul Cosford from Public Health England on BBC Breakfast that day of the probable widespread transmission of the virus in the UK that sparked the politician charged with leading the country into attending his first crisis meeting.

By then, the situation in the UK had reached such a stage that just ten days later, Johnson called a media briefing at Number Ten to announce his first plan – “a clear plan” – to counter the virus.

Chief Scientist Sir Patrick Vallance told the media the plan relied on about 60% of the population – 40 million people – catching the virus in order to create a herd immunity.

MIT Technology Review summed up the plan.

Just how many would die under Johnson’s plan was explained in the eminent medical journal, The Lancet.

Fortunately, the needless loss of life suffered in World War One, when thousands of lives were sacrificed to try to reach an objective decided upon by grandees, was not going to be repeated – Johnson changed his plan.

Johnson’s plan was ditched just four days later when he announced a new plan.

While many foreign media such as the Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune have been critical of Johnson’s policies, an Internet search for British editorials critical of Johnson failed to find any before the Sunday Times revelations.

This was despite reports from medical sources finding his leadership wanting.

More recently, a committee of MPs was warned by Professor Anthony Costello, former Director of the Institute for Global Health at University College London, the “harsh reality” was that the UK would probably see the highest death rate in Europe because ministers were “too slow” to act.

Johnson’s lack of leadership on COVID-19 is also evident on two other matters.

At a press conference on 3 March when he should have been urging people against personal contact he announced:

Having recovered from the virus, Johnson then flagrantly ignored the advice issued under his Prime Ministership that he “must remain” in his primary residence by travelling to his second home to recuperate.

You can read more by Steve Bishop at stevebishop.net.