This narrative about the UK's coronavirus response is quite wrong, to put it plainly: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/01/absolutely-wrong-how-uk-coronavirus-test-strategy-unravelled

Here's a document from *2007* where the UK government says it would stop doing extensive testing after an outbreak reached a certain size

http://antibiotic-action.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/DH-Pandemic-influenza-a-national-framework-v2007.pdf

The frame that pins the blame on Boris Johnson's government is insufficient to explain what has happened.

This goes back much further, and implicates our non-political bureaucracy more than it does any individual politician

This is probably a fair reading of it https://twitter.com/jackjackharman/status/1245437335992320002