Good Morning Britain 's Dr Hilary Jones has explained why the government has made two more apparent U-turns on local lockdowns.
Host Susanna Reid asked Hilary about Bolton and Trafford, two boroughs in Greater Manchester which had local lockdowns reimposed just 12 hours after they were initially lifted, due to a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases.
But Hilary refused to criticise the government's changing decision, defending the U-turn as demonstrating they show officials are looking at the science.
He added that the government is looking at "changing data" so it needs to be flexible with its guidance and change it based on the figures.
Susanna asked: "Do you know why that U-turn was made?"
Hilary replied: "Yes, simply because the transmission has gone up so the number of cases has gone up quite significantly in the last week.
"Somewhere from about 20 cases in 100,000 to about 66, so it's a significant rise.
Susanna asked why, and Hilary replied: "We think it's because households are meeting together, whereas in fact in that lockdown situation they shouldn't be, and people have been ignoring or just no aware of the advice that's been given.
"So they do need to adhere to the restrictions.
Ben remarked: "The local leaders were saying they didn't want the restrictions lifted, the government said, 'We are going to lift them', and then almost immediately, did the U-turn and said, 'Actually, we are not going to lift them again'.
"We are hearing people from the local area saying, 'Who are we supposed to listen to?"
Hilary replied: "We talk about frequent U-turns, but it's good to have a U-turn sometimes.
"You don't do a U-turn, change a decision based on existing data, you change your decision on changing data, and the data is changing all the time.
"So if the transmission rate goes up, it makes absolute sense for public safety to keep these restrictions there.
"So it's good we are listening to local councils, local authorities, who know what's going on on the ground, and they were the ones telling the government, 'We would like the restrictions kept in place', and the government said, 'Let's have a look at the data - yes, you're exactly right'."
He insisted local councils and authorities were on the ball, despite being pressed by unsure Ben and Susanna over it.
* Good Morning Britain airs weekdays on ITV at 6am
