What exactly the government said about the UK lockdown extension today

Extending the lockdown for at least another three weeks, Mr Raab, who is deputising for Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he recovers from the virus, said the original three-month timeline set down by Mr Johnson to come through the peak of the virus was broadly ‘still the outline’.

The Cabinet minister said there is ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ but refused to set out a ‘definitive time frame’ for easing the lockdown measures, stressing that lifting them now would only lead to a 'second lockdown’.

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He said: “The Prime Minister said at the outset that it would take three months to come through the peak and I think that, broadly, is still the outline.

“We can't give a definitive time frame, that would be to prejudge the evidence, that wouldn't be a responsible thing to do.

“But our message to the British public is: there is light at the end of tunnel, we are making progress, but at the same time we must keep up the social distancing measures.”

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Mr Raab said ministers and scientists must be confident there will be no second wave of infections, and that more widespread testing needed to be put in place alongside solid evidence that infections were falling.

“The worst thing we could do right now is to ease up too soon, allow a second peak of the virus to hit the NHS and to hit the British people,” he said.

“It would be the worst outcome not just for public health but for the economy and for our country as a whole.”

Mr Raab said there were still ‘issues with the virus spreading in some hospitals and in care homes’, adding: “The very clear advice we received is that any change to our social distancing measures now would risk a significant increase in the spread of the virus.”

Mr Raab said the rate of infection was reducing but added: “But overall we still don't have the infection rate down as far as we need to.”