Dominic Raab admits the UK is still at level four on its own scale of risk suggesting lockdown is easing ahead of time.
He also warned the country faces further lockdowns if there's "any uptick" in the disease.
The Foreign Secretary was asked today where the UK is currentlyon the government's coronavirus alertness scale of 1 to 5.
He told Sky News: "We are transitioning from level four to level three.
"We have made steady progress to get the R level down below one."
Earlier this month Boris Johnson announced a five-tier alert system to rank the threat from coronavirus.
The system is designed to mirror the independent terror alert system, which ranks the threat to the public from “low” to “critical” and helps decide what protective measures are required.
The Prime Minister outlined in his roadmap to ease the lockdown that the UK would have to come down to level three before it could relax measures - which include opening more shops, allowing more pupils back to school and allowing groups to meet.
But today the First Secretary of State admitted the UK is still at level four.
He told the BBC: "This is a sensitive moment.
Adding: "We can't just stay in lockdown forever. We have got to transition."
He added: "If there is any up-tick in the number of cases, if we stop making the progress I described, we will have to take further measures again and target the virus wherever it may appear."
He said the Government will target measures carefully if there is "any uptick" in infection rates
Asked whether the lockdown will be tightened again if infection rates increase, Mr Raab told Sky's Ridge on Sunday: "We will target, if there is any uptick, and it could be in a locality, it could be in a particular setting, we will target very carefully measures that would apply to it so that we can take these steps but also keep control of the virus."
But a number of scientists have expressed concerns that the easing is happening too fast.
Government advisor Prof Peter Openshaw: "There's a pretty unanimous message now that we need to take this slowly and go step by step. We need to evaluate the effect of each step before we move to the next one."
Responding to the comments by Professor Openshaw, Mr Raab says there's not a consensus among the Government's scientific advisers on when to lift lockdown restrictions. “We wouldn’t expect them all to agree on a new pandemic,” he said.
Prof Devi Sridhar, chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, said the lockdown easing is happening too soon to be in a position to contain the virus.
She told Sky's Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme: "If your objective is to contain the virus, to drive numbers down and to try to in a sense get rid of it so no-one is exposed to it, then it is not the right measure right now to open up.
"It's a big risk and gamble for exiting lockdown with a larger number of deaths than we did when we actually entered lockdown months back."
Prof Sridhar said there is now a clear divide between Government and some scientists, but added that ultimately decisions will be made by politicians.
She said: "I think what they should be saying is they consider the science, and hopefully they listen to it but the decision, and who actually has the accountability, are the politicians and leaders."
