LONDON, U.K. -- Let’s have a show of disinfected hands from all those who suffered a Trumpian delusion that COVID-19 would miraculously disappear—like, around U.S. election day.

Okay, not so many.

I was sort of hoping the scientists got it wrong, but all the warnings of a terrible viral winter seem to be coming true.

A sure sign of a looming crisis is a return to regular briefings by the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. It’s like March, April, May all over again, only this time the country has a new slogan: Hands, Face, Space.

It seems Stanley Johnson, the Prime Minister’s father forgot all about the “Face” part. He was recently photographed out shopping without wearing a mask and gave a grovelling apology.

You’ll of course remember that Boris was seriously ill with COVID-19. He was overweight then, which might have made his condition worse. He’s recently been on a diet and this week described himself as “fitter than a butcher’s dog.”

Consider it another way: his weight and popularity are both dropping. A poll in last week’s Observer showed him trailing the new Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer for the first time.

As the coronavirus threat grows, the country is seeing a new pattern of infection, without any real explanation why. Last March, the rate of new cases was pretty much the same everywhere. This time it seems concentrated in the north of England and Wales.

Liverpool, the home of the Beatles, has become the latest big city to be put under severe lockdown—meaning, a curfew on pub hours and no mixing indoors between households.

And no dancing at the Cavern Club.

Remember I told you about taking a COVID-19 test as part of a national study? I was negative by the way. It also made me gag.

Nationwide, 80,000 of us got tested in the biggest rolling study of its kind in the U.K. The results have now been published and leave a small opening of hope.

The rate of infection is still going up—but seems to be slowing down. I told you it was only a small opening.

In fact, around one in 200 people were shown to be infected by the virus. That’s a huge number. It’s even higher among young people.

All I know is that more than 2,200 COVID-19 patients are now suffering in British hospitals and the government’s chief scientific adviser sees only one trend: “This is headed in the wrong direction.”

Thousands of British university students locked in their flats and their dorms know what that means. Security guards on the doors, nobody goes out and nobody comes in.

About 40 universities are reporting COVID-19 outbreaks and have put students into self- isolation. A hand-printed sign pasted in one window pleaded for mercy: “Send Drink.”

Classes have only started, but already people are thinking months ahead and the dreadful prospect of not being allowed to go home for Christmas.

“Locked Up,” read another window sign. “Thanks Boris.”