The UK could end up with the worst coronavirus death rate in Europe, according to an expert.
Sir Jeremy Farrar is director of the Wellcome Trust, a charity which funds research to improve human and animal health.
In an interview on the BBC's Andrew Marr show, he said: "Numbers in the UK have continued to go up.
"And yes, the UK is likely to be certainly one of the worst, if not the worst affected country in Europe."
He said continuing testing in the community would "buy you time" to deal with the crisis, giving an additional six to eight weeks to ensure health systems were up to capacity.
"Undoubtedly there are lessons to learn from that," Sir Jeremy said.
Sir Jeremy's comments came as it emerged the number of deaths in UK hospitals which were linked to Covid-19 were on the brink of 10,000.
