Prime Minister Boris Johnson has admitted the UK government could have handled the Covid-19 outbreak "differently", and said there were gaps in the understanding about the virus during the early stages.
But he denied ministers had been too slow going into lockdown, arguing he "stuck like glue" to the advice of experts.
Speaking to BBC News, Mr Johnson said: "Maybe there were things we could have done differently, and of course there will be time to understand what exactly we could have done, or done differently."
He has promised an inquiry into the approach to dealing with Covid-19.
During the interview, Mr Johnson said there would be a time for questions about the UK's death rate, with more than 50,000 people thought to have died after testing positive for the virus.
"We didn't understand (the virus) in the way that we would have liked in the first few weeks and months," he added.
"And I think probably, the single thing that we didn't see at the beginning was the extent to which it was being transmitted asymptomatically from person to person.
"I think it's fair to say that there are things that we need to learn about how we handled it in the early stages ... there will be plenty of opportunities to learn the lessons of what happened."
When pressed on whether he had been too slow to lock the country down and hand out distancing advice, the prime minister denied there had been delay.
"No, on the contrary, no, if you look at the timing of every single piece of advice that we got from our advisers, from SAGE ( Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies), you will find that whenever they said that we needed to take a particular step, actually, we stuck to that advice like glue," he said.
Labour's health spokesperson Jonathan Ashworth said that Mr Johnson "has finally admitted the government has mishandled its response to the coronavirus".
Mr Ashworth said: "This finally puts to bed the prime minister's previous claim his government took the right decisions at the right time."
He added: "It was too slow to acknowledge the threat of the virus, too slow to enter lockdown and too slow to take this crisis seriously.
"The threat of a second wave is still very real.
"It is imperative the government learns the lessons of its mistakes so we can help to save lives."
Official figures show 45,677 people had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm yesterday, an increase of 123 on the previous day.
Separate figures published by the UK's statistics agencies show there have been more than 56,100 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
In the 24-hour period up to 9am today, there had been a further 770 laboratory-confirmed cases. Overall, a total of 297,914 cases have been confirmed.
In England, it is now compulsory to wear a face covering in shopping centres, banks, takeaway outlets, sandwich shops and supermarkets.
Exceptions have been made, for example, for children under 11 or people with respiratory problems, but anyone refusing to cover their nose and mouth risks a fine of up to £100.
