What we might be witnessing is the last baleful gasp of the storm.
Remarkable as it may now seem, a return to normality could be on the horizon, heralding an opportunity for national renewal.
As spring arrives, our current despair could give way to a resurgence in optimism and self-confidence.
In April 1941, during one of the grimmest moments of the war after Britain had endured a string of defeats overseas at the hands of the Nazi war machine, Churchill made a stirring broadcast in which he quoted some lines from the Victorian poet Arthur Hugh Clough.
The number of British people who have died in the pandemic is higher than WW2 civilian losses (Image: Getty)