The speed of spread of covid-19 certainly shows up the vulnerabilities of our society over the last 50 years. Fast and cheap air travel has proven to be a vulnerability and the UK amongst others have shown that a lazy government can make the issue far worse by not closing the borders and checking all travelers.
The lack of a decisive lockdown in the UK points towards the lack of control of the government, or the dislike of government control, and this is also the case in the USA where known covid-19 deaths are almost at the level of Spain.
China locked down very quickly which restricted their recorded deaths although the number may be massaged by the government. South Korea instigated a policy of mass testing which seems to have worked well enough.
I have to disagree. I think the UK government at all times has followed scientific guidance, they've been willing to adapt their approach as required and they have been transparent in doing so. You suggest it was late for the UK to act, but the UK was late in contracting the virus, we were at a completely different stage in the battle, the government was performing contact tracing and quarantine prior to the lockdown (the clue was in the "Containment" name of the phase), and at the time there was limited evidence of asymptomatic transmission.
If you think that the medical advisors were followed then you are completely wrong. The Tory cabinet ignored medical advice and avoided starting SAGE meetings, or avoided attending them for a long time. Since then Cummings has been dictating the medical advice and changing it. In many cases the Tories simply ignored advice to lock down. The fact that someone can be infected with covid-19 without showing symptoms is irrelevant, the government were not checking people coming in from China, or anywhere else at all, that was long after other countries started doing so. This is about saving money, not lives, and always has been for Boris and the Tories.
Herd immunity is not even proven as yet, and in theory may still be impossible. There are many people who have had the disease and later tested positive again. Even if we manage to get a vaccine sorted it may not be effective for very long.
Their recent supposed testing success of over 100,000 tests in one day has proven to be a lie, they sent out over half a million kits on that day and those may still be out there. Really they managed a bit over 70,000 tests.
First, in every briefing they have been involved in, The Chief Scientific Advisor, the Chief Medical Officer, Head of the NHS, Deputy CSA, Deputy CMO and the NHS Head of Nursing have always demonstrably been in agreement by the statements made by the ministers. There is absolutely no doubt that the government did indeed follow the scientific advice on this matter throughout. The alternative, is a cover-up spanning the entirity of the civil service, which sounds a little too hollywood for my tastes. This is real life, not a paperback.
I do not doubt there have been failings, notably spanking money on 17 million defective tests from China, and the PPE nonsense but in actual timelines and strategy I don't find fault there at all.
Herd Immunity is a proven strategy when dealing with disease, we've been using it for centuries. The only thing up in the air with that strategy is if Covid-19 immunity post recovery is sufficiently long term enough to act as that buffer. Sadly though, its the only trick we (the entire world) have until a vaccine (if one can be produced) is created and we can stimulate our bodies to produce said antibodies without needing to suffer the symptoms of Covid-19. Same mechanism at the end of the day, either through natural recovery or through a vaccine.
100,000 tests a day is just bull anyway. What difference would it make even at 100,000 tests per day to test the entire population of the UK would take 600+ days to test. As much as "testing is key", even at 100,000 tests per day (which is insane for our country which does not have a huge testing industry either) would take 600+ days to do the lot of us. assuming no double tests. it really is not a feasible option. A city yes, a region perhaps, an entire country... no just no. its a fools gambit.