OUR acting-Prime Minister tells us "there is light at the end of the tunnel", yet I worry that our government still underestimates the task needed to beat Covid-19.

The longer the lockdown continues, the greater the damage to the economy.

Yet with a three-week extension to lockdown announced, I see none of the urgency required to end the lockdown in three weeks.

A great deal of testing and tracking will be needed, and 100,000 tests-a-day were promised for two weeks time.

With testing still running at 12,000-a-day, let us hope that 100,000 is soon on stream.

Yet even 100,000 tests will not be enough to end the lockdown in three weeks.

For testing and tracking, 100,000 tests would only cope with roughly 20 percent of today's infection cases, most of which presently go unreported.

An 80 percent reduction in infection rates in three weeks seems wildly optimistic.

Added to this concern, I see very little other evidence of preparation for the massive effort needed after lockdown.

Our government's attention appears to be elsewhere, still struggling to achieve the tasks it should have had sorted a month ago.

So even with "light at the end of the tunnel", our government seems poorly prepared for the journey ahead.

DR MARTIN RODGER

Bloxworth Road, Parkstone