Britons need to remember to stick to the basics of washing their hands and social distancing, said transport minister Grant Shapps when asked about a record daily level of infections.
"This is a very, very solid reminder that we have to do the basics," Shapps told the BBC on Friday.
He was asked whether the spike in cases - the UK reported 33,470 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, the highest daily total to date - was because people had socialised more in the days before England's current lockdown started on Nov.5 because they knew it was coming.
"I'll leave that to the epidemiologists to tell us," he said. "I think we probably want to wait to see some more numbers to see the exact trajectory."
(Reporting by Sarah Young, Editing by Paul Sandle)
