A full nationwide coronavirus lockdown is still the "absolute last resort", a Tory minister said - despite a huge surge in the number of new cases.
There were 2,988 new positive Covid-19 tests in a 24-hour period up to 9am on Sunday, up from 1,813 in the previous 24 hours.
That's the highest daily figure since May 22, when fewer tests were available and it is thought some Covid sufferers slipped under the radar.
Tory minister George Eustice admitted the new rise is a "significant jump" - and can't be blamed on better testing.
He said “part of this is because we are testing more”, but the proportion of tests coming back positive has risen too.
With most of the new cases in young people, who are less vulnerable to Covid-19, Mr Eustice said it is possible some young people are becoming "complacent".
Yet the Environment Secretary said the UK Government is still not planning any kind of national lockdown.
Mr Eustice told Sky News the Government is keeping its focus on "hotspots" and "local lockdowns", monitoring outbreaks with the Test and Trace system.
He said: "These local lockdowns can have an impact and can be successful.
"And I think that’s the approach we want to take - not a full-scale national lockdown, but a local approach responding to flare-ups where we see them."
Asked again about a full national lockdown - like the one imposed on March 23 - Mr Eustice said it "would be an absolute last resort."
It comes after fury at a backlog in the testing system which built up after an IT failure at a 'Lighthouse' lab.
Some people last week were being told to travel more than 100 miles for a coronavirus test.
Paul Hunter, a professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia, warned the UK could be entering "a period of exponential growth" in the spread of the virus.
He said: "This is especially concerning for a Sunday when report numbers are generally lower than most other days of the week.
"Some of that increase may be because of catch-up from delayed tests over the past few days due to the widely reported difficulties the UK testing service has faced dealing with the number of tests being requested.
"Nevertheless, this represents a marked increase in the seven-day rolling average of 1,812 cases per day compared to 1,244 a week ago and 1,040 a week before that."
Prof Gabriel Scally, a former NHS regional director of public health for the South West, told the Guardian: "They’ve lost control of the virus.
"It’s no longer small outbreaks they can stamp on. It’s become endemic in our poorest communities and this is the result.
"It’s extraordinarily worrying when schools are opening and universities are going to be going back."
Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth called for Health Secretary Matt Hancock to appear before Parliament on Monday afternoon over the record rise.
He said on Sunday: "Today's increase in coronavirus cases is deeply concerning and a stark reminder that there is no room for complacency in tackling the spread of the virus.
"This increase, combined with the ongoing testing fiasco where ill people are told to drive for miles for tests, and the poor performance of the contact tracing system, needs an explanation from ministers.
"Matt Hancock must come to the House of Commons (Monday) to set out what is being done to get testing back on track and bring case numbers down."
Mr Hancock described the increase as "concerning".
He told Sky News: "The cases are predominantly among younger people, but we've seen in other countries across the world and in Europe this sort of rise in the cases amongst younger people leading to a rise across the population as a whole.
"It's so important that people don't allow this illness to infect their grandparents and to lead to the sorts of problems that we saw earlier in the year."
