Matt Hancock has predicted that people will be allowed to stop wearing face masks and coverings next year.
The health secretary said he didn't 'imagine' people would be wearing masks as they do now by the end of 2021 - on the day the first coronavirus vaccine begins to be rolled out across the UK.
At the moment, it is mandatory to wear a face covering on public transport, in shops and other indoor venues and pubs and restaurants before sitting down to eat or risk a £200 fine.
But despite his hopes for an end to the preventative measure next year, Mr Hancock did say people should carry on wearing masks for now even if they've received the Covid-19 vaccine.
"You still ought to," he told LBC Radio. "Because we don't know the impact of the vaccine on you transmitting the virus. You may still have the disease asymptomatically and still transmit it.
"And that's one of the things we will be measuring as we roll out the vaccine."
Mr Hancock said "it will take months" for wide-scale protection to kick in and added "we've still got a march ahead of us".
He also said it's not yet known if the vaccine stops recipients transmitting coronavirus to others.
But asked if he imagined "we'll be wearing masks for most of next year", Mr Hancock told LBC: "I don't think so.
"I think that by spring we should be out of the measures, I really hope.
"And I hope that we have a normal summer this summer coming.
"I think people have got used to wearing masks in certain circumstances. I want to get back to living by personal responsibility rather than by laws we've had to pass through parliament.
"And now we can see the route to getting back to that."
