I don't believe there was any chance anyone was going to stop the virus but some of the measures have been more effective than others. Germany, for example, has done better than most Western countries in testing, tracking and getting through the lockdown. They are now opening up again in a controlled way. Generally, there seems to be an unsurprising distrust for the governments, they reacted too slowly and people would have supported more action. We probably need to listen more to scientists and medics rather than politicians.

I found this interesting.....

https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/wintoncovid1