Conservative government cuts have "emaciated" the testing system and made the ability to track down coronavirus cases more difficult, a public health professor has claimed.
Gabriel Scally, a former regional director of public health, said he was "very worried" about the country's ability to get to the levels of contact tracers needed, saying 10 years ago it would have been possible - but cuts have damaged this.
His anger was in response to Conservative former Cabinet minister David Gauke's defence of reductions in public spending, warning of an "even more difficult situation" without austerity as he tried to focus on resilience.