The above is a link to an article by a front-line UK doctor who explains as clearly as possible why testing, tracing and quarantining is at the heart of a determined strategy to tackle an epidemic such as SARS-CoV-2.
UK government still has not grasped the basics. Their policy remains a disastrous mixture of social distancing – brought in purely under pressure – and a recklessly casualness to testing.
The WHO says test and trace and quarantine. A schoolchild knows this is how you beat a virus.
At one point there were going for the lunatic and unscientific “herd immunity” idea. Now UK policy is nothing in particular. Just a mess.
It is like the First World War; brave nurses and doctors being led by incompetent and reckless generals who themselves are far from the frontline.