Coronavirus is the great equaliser – but already some of us are more equal than others

Finally – finally – the government has announced that frontline NHS staff will be granted coronavirus tests, potentially allowing thousands of desperately needed key workers to return to hospitals and doctors surgeries. The test announcement came following the news that Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock had both been struck down with the deadly illness.

But wait, how do the PM's gang know they have coronavirus? While NHS staff were left begging for screening to allow them to get back to the vital work they do, Johnson joins the likes of Prince Charles, Camilla, and other members of the elite who appear able to snap their fingers and procure a test.

Charles, we are told, was in Aberdeen and therefore met the criteria for coronavirus testing. Indeed, I’d wager His Royal Highness would have met the criteria for testing whether he was in Scotland or South Hackney. And while Johnson may repeat the message that “we’re all in this together” – his test results say otherwise.

Among a handful of horror stories I have heard from NHS staff not a month into this national crisis include: a paramedic told to work through symptoms; staff left without masks; hospitals lacking vital equipment; mobile morgues established to take the overflow from the capital's existing facilities; staff unsure whether to isolate and leave their colleagues pitifully understaffed or attend work and keep their fingers crossed it’s just a cold.

To say the situation is unacceptable is a laughable understatement. And yet here we have the nation’s leader feeling poorly for barely half a day before a test appears before him, and lo, the results are confirmed to the nation.

The prime minister was tested for coronavirus shortly before stepping outside Number 10 and clapping the fantastic NHS staff – who, let’s face it, we will never be able to thank enough for the work they do. In a Twitter message announcing he had the virus, Johnson said he found the round of applause for the NHS “very moving”.

I agree. Tears were shed in my household as we leaned out of the window last week and joined our neighbours in thanking these heroes. But not as many tears as I shed when an NHS worker told me that her colleagues had been left traumatised by what they had seen on the wards. And not as many tears as I shed when reading an open letter from NHS staff to Number 10 begging for more help. We “do not feel safe at work”, the letter said, as it described the shocking shortages of supplies.

Hopefully the wave of tests being rolled out this weekend and beyond will start to alleviate some of the staff shortages in the NHS. For the rest of us,unsure whether we’ve been struck down as part of a deadly pandemic or have a touch of flu, well, unless we’re a member of Parliament or a royal, we’ll just have to wait. In the eyes of the virus, we may well all be equal – but some are more equal than others.

Harriet Sinclair is assistant news editor of The Independent