I know that Oz doesn't have the same population as you do (UK), but in our state (Queensland) our premier shut down very quickly. To be fair, people did follow the rules, mostly, and we had the virus at least under control very quickly and kept it there. Currently the only cases we have are people from overseas who have flown in and are in hotel quarantine, and there aren't many of them (6-7 maybe). Other states were ****ty with us because we closed our borders to keep the diseased out, but it worked. Two other states, NSW and Victoria, followed suit and began a strict lockdown resulting in both of them now being new cases free for a number of weeks. Queensland have now reopened the borders to them and things seem to be moving smoothly for the moment. We haven't cured the disease but we have contained it, People followed the simple rules and life is slowly returning to normal, somewhat. It can be done, but it needs the conviction of everyone. Try it, you never know.