There should be no relaxation of coronavirus lockdown measures in the UK yet, Cabinet minister Michael Gove has said, despite signals the rate of infection is being slowed by social distancing.

Mr Gove, who was speaking at the Government’s daily Covid-19 press conference, said the sign of slowing infection rates was “hopeful” but warned against an over interpretation of figures.

“There are some signs, as a result of people observing social distancing that we may be able to flatten the spread of infection”, Mr Gove said, “but now is absolutely not the time for people to imagine there can be any relaxation or slackening”.

The medical director of NHS England, Professor Stephen Powis, said evidence showed the public is obeying new social distancing rules and as a result, there had been a “bit of a plateau” in the number of new cases.

But he said it is “really important not to read too much” into statistics, “because it is really early days”.

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