The UK's strategy is lockdown to counteract the initial explosion where we allowed the initial outbreak to get out of control, then gradually release the lockdo

The UK's strategy is lockdown to counteract the initial explosion where we allowed the initial outbreak to get out of control, then gradually release the lockdown whilst keeping R under 1. Keeping R under 1 is is to be done with a combination of social distancing, human contact tracing, an app, testing, quarantines etc. If R is under 1, your cases trend towards 0. Eventually the outbreak ends when you get a vaccine or the measures reduce your cases to 0. No guarantees that it'll work but I don't see why it can't work in theory. You'll probably have occasional flare ups and course corrections but it should get easier over time as total infections reduce and our understanding of the disease improves and testing improves.