This has been the problem from the start. Lack of localism, treating this as one big country-wide outbreak instead of a number of much smaller local outbreaks with their own timings and dynamics. This government is incapable of thinking in terms of devolving control.
That's very true, but the UK's overcentralised in all sorts of respects and has been for a long time, and up to a point the way the government has responded to covid-19 is symptomatic of that. This government is probably a more determined centraliser and control freak than most, though...