We might all be occasionally guilty of some hyperbole at times. Phrases such as ‘unprecedented’ or ‘extraordinary’ might not always be entirely justified. There is no doubt, however, that such descriptions are hardly misplaced when it comes to where we are now.

The sheer scale of change and dislocation to people’s normal lives that COVID-19 represents and the shock it will bring with it – even if only for a comparatively limited period of time – is beyond anything that most of our working generation of public servants will have encountered.