British cabinet office minister Michael Gove has said it is his fervent hope that the newly announced lockdown to be imposed in England will end in early December.
Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, Mr Gove said he believes this is based on the evidence they have, but it is important that they do not "get entirely ahead of themselves".
Nobody relishes taking these steps, Mr Gove said, but they are necessary to ensure the country's health service does not become overwhelmed.
Last night, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a new four-week coronavirus lockdown across England.
People in England will be told to stay at home under the new restrictions which begin on Thursday - with the closure of hospitality and non-essential shops.
Pubs, bars and restaurants will close, though takeaways will be allowed, and all non-essential retail will be shut. People will still be able to exercise outdoors, and travel to work if they cannot work from home, though restrictions on international travel are likely to be introduced.
If the reproductive rate comes down "we can look at which restrictions can be lifted and where," he said.
"Even if we do exit all of these national measures we won't be going back to life before Covid," he said.
"We have to live with this virus. It will be the case that there will be restrictions in certain areas where we want to be uniquely vigilant in making sure we don't see a resurgence in re-infection."
Mr Gove said that he is "absolutely" committed to keeping schools open and that "all evidence suggests that schools are not a centre of infection".
The spread of infection cannot be eliminated without "closing down the country" completely, so there needs to be a balance, he said.
When asked if a national lockdown should have been imposed sooner, Mr Gove said the advice they were receiving at the time indicated that a regional approach was "entirely appropriate".
It was the case that the numbers increased in every region, he said, and scientific and medical advisors reflected on that change.
"I don't think that it is a criticism of any politician to say that they are reluctant to restrict liberty", Mr Gove said.
Speaking on the same programme, UK Labour leader Keir Starmer said the government must use the lockdown to fix the test and trace system.
He said that if this is not done, they will "be back in this cycle for months and months" and 2 December will be "a review date, not an end date".
He said his party was "ridiculed" when it called for a circuit breaker lockdown three weeks ago.
"The government rejected and ridiculed it, to now turn around and do that precise thing".
The delay in imposing a lockdown means it will now be "longer and harder" he said.
Mr Starmer said he thinks they need to remain under restrictions until the infection rate falls to below one, otherwise "it will keep going back up" and hospital admissions will increase.
