More Londoners must stay at home so the Tube is safe for critical workers

Our country is in the midst of the biggest health, social and economic crisis since the Second World War – and it will take another war-time national effort to overcome it.

Our most immediate priority is to save as many lives as possible. As we have seen with devastating consequences in Italy and Spain, the biggest threat to life will come if our hospitals are overrun – with too few beds and not enough equipment to treat severely ill patients. Our doctors and nurses should never be forced to choose who lives and who dies.

London is ahead of the rest of the UK in terms of the spread of the virus because of our global connectivity and closer-living. And I’m working hand-in-glove with the Government, the NHS, Public Health England and other public services to lead a fully joined-up response.

Some of our hospitals in London are already accelerating towards their capacity limits. That’s why it’s so crucial that we all strictly follow the rules so that we can buy our brilliant NHS staff the time they need to save lives. This means everyone staying at home, apart from the very few exceptions the Government has set out.

Perhaps more than any other crisis our country has faced, every single person has a pivotal role to play. This is truly a collective effort, with our country now coming together for this fight in a way we have not seen for many decades. The conflicts and disagreements that divided society just a few weeks ago are being cast aside. The virus doesn’t care whether you are young, old, rich, poor, a southerner, a northerner, a Remainer or a Brexiteer – we are all at risk.

We should take pride and hope from the incredible sense of social responsibility and selflessness that has taken hold across Britain. Like with the two London students - Connor Tugulu and Thomas Buckley - who have set up a nationwide network to support NHS staff. Or the #viralkindess postcards pushed through people’s letterboxes, offering support to neighbours who are self-isolating. And, of course, like the nearly one million people who have already responded to the Government’s plea to help the NHS. During this time of national suffering, we can take solace from the fact that our society remains as strong as ever.

We can also take pride in our great British entrepreneurs, businesses and universities for offering their time, resources and world-class expertise in a true demonstration of British spirit - whether it’s helping to produce ventilators or working on new treatments.

But our greatest admiration and thanks must go to the heroes on the frontline, particularly the brave NHS and social care staff, including those who have come out of retirement to help, who are putting themselves at risk. This week’s demonstration of our appreciation - through the moving ‘clap for carers’ – is the very least we can do, and we must continue to show them our gratitude during this crisis and beyond.

We must also thank all the other critical workers who are keeping things running so our NHS staff can concentrate on saving lives. From police officers and firefighters to refuse collectors, delivery workers and shop workers, this is a national effort that simply would not work without their efforts.

As the Mayor of London, I’d like to particularly thank our Transport for London staff who are keeping the public transport network moving under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. We are running as many tube and buses as physically possible, but nearly a third of our TfL staff are now off sick or self-isolating themselves. The vast majority of Londoners are following the rules, which means the use of the Tube has dropped by more than 90 per cent. But we still need more people to stay at home to ensure our critical workers can travel safely.

At times of true national emergency, party politics is put to one side. There has been good co-operation in recent weeks between City Hall in London and ministers and officials across government, as well as with local councils of all parties, to co-ordinate our response. In particular, I’ve been working closely with the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and I’m sure I join the whole country in wishing him a speedy recovery.

I want to be honest that we are still some weeks away from the peak of this crisis. In the coming days, the new NHS Nightingale hospital at the ExCel exhibition centre in London will open (pictured above) which will hold up to 4,000 critical care beds. The work to get this new hospital up and running with the help of military planners is an incredible feat. But the fact we will need this extra capacity, and more, so soon shows how tough this is going to get.

Our country has been through difficult times before and we have always come through them by staying united, pulling together and utilising our resourcefulness as a nation. We should be proud – and it gives me great hope - that we are doing the same again now. This fight is going to take everything we’ve got.