If you see the countries testing the most- South Korea, Singapore, Iceland, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Qatar there are no easy political points that can be made. Vastly different creatures but all primed towards one thing - competence

Competence premised on a clear coherent strategy, preparedness, open willingness to learn from international consensus of experts who've been making the right calls, developing structural capacity for domestic testing, equipping their publics and healthcare systems

The Anglo obsession with "authoritarianism" v "democracy" is a useless framework for understanding COVID19. Slowly emerging as another bright spot is Germany - tremendous healthcare capacity in terms of number of staff and ITU beds but also a gargantuan effort to ramp testing

Political exclusivism - the notion only one model can deliver success misses out on honing in on what deliver competence. Competence has shown by the countries cited can be reached through multiple paths.

Testing allows identification - it alone is not a panacea but it is an absolute first necessary step, a foundation to save lives. It allows vision, imperfect vision but vision nonetheless to allow planning and further action. In the UK we are fighting with no reconnaissance