to prepare for a reasonable worst case scenario. that was a planning assumption for 820,000 deaths, and i was determined that that would not happen on my watch. so why wait so long before ordering a lockdown? mr hancock pointed out that there were very few confirmed cases, and the advice was that the public wouldn't tolerate restrictions for more than a few weeks. i remember the moment around the cabinet table when i said "we are going to have to tell everybody to stop all social contact." and i remember thinking, "this is the most extraordinary thing that i've ever said." and the prime minister said, "yes, we are. "you'd better go and tell them." matt hancock says the uk responded well in areas where it was already strong, so the nhs massively increased the number of beds. there was existing scientific expertise, but there was no testing capacity. there wasn't enough