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And no, we haven't given up on it yet.

We catch up on how many Covid-19 tests the government now says it's carrying out.

But first, three weeks ago, this programme made the point that a lot of people would still be alive in the UK today

if the lockdown had been introduced a week earlier.

Now, senior scientific advisers to the government are making the same point.

Professor John Edmunds did so on the Andrew Marcio last Sunday.

So did Sir Venky Ramakrishnan on the today programme on Monday.

Both are members of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, Sage.

So what advice was the government receiving in early March

when this decision was being made?

Was there any indication that we should have been locking down earlier?

To help us look at this, I am joined in a rare appearance by Morales's long-suffering editor, Richard Varten.

Hello, Richard.

Hello, Tim.

Yes, I want to take you back to the first big press conference about coronavirus on March 12th.

It was the first time we saw Boris Johnson flanked by Chris Whitty,

the government's chief medical adviser and Sir Patrick Valance, chief scientific adviser.

I remember how they all stood in a row looking a little bit like craftwerk.

Yes, it was the beginning of coronavirus in Europe and all eyes were on Italy,

where they had seen the number of deaths rise rapidly to over 1,000 in just a few weeks.

In the press conference, Sir Patrick was asked about Italy.

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