In light of rising infection rates in the United Kingdom, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was asked in Parliament whether the apparent greater successes in Italy and Germany in preventing a resurgence of the epidemic were due to better test-and-trace systems.
According to The Guardian, Johnson replied that Britain was "a freedom-loving country and if you look at the history in this country in the last 300 years, virtually every advance, from freedom of speech to democracy, has come from this."
Responding to his remarks, Italian President Sergio Mattarella said that Italy's citizens "also love freedom, but we also care about seriousness."