The World Health Organisation keeps saying that testing is an essential part of the fight against COVID-19.

But Australia still hasn't embraced wide scale testing like authorities are doing in some other countries.

So why not?

On the show today:

* Who is patient zero? (our first kids question)

* Why aren’t we doing more testing?

* If we do more testing, wouldn’t the number of cases go up?

* Is it possible the death rate is lower because people aren’t getting picked up?

And Dr Norman Swan explains what the thinking is behind the state shutdowns.

We're looking for questions from kids. Record the question with an iPhone or Android and email the file to [email protected] and we might include it on an upcoming special edition!