Nadhim Zahawi said it was “looking positive” that Plan B measures could be lifted on January 26.
New Covid measures were brought in to try to slow the rate of the Omicron variant and rising hospital rates at the end of 2021.
The Education Secretary told BBC Breakfast: “If you look at infection rates, they remain high, hospitalisations are still high, touching 20,000 people in hospital, but it feels like they’re plateauing.
“The good news is the number of people in ICU has been coming down, certainly in London, which was the epicentre, the level of staff absence in education has remained pretty flat, it was 8% before Christmas, it’s at about 8.5% at the moment.
“So I’m confident that when we review this on the 26th of January, as we said we would do, then we’ll be in a much better place to lift some of these restrictions.
“But it’s worth remembering that because we stuck to Plan B this economy is the most open economy in Europe.”
Under England's Plan B measures, people are told to continue working from home wherever they can, wear face coverings on public transport and in public places, and show their Covid status to get into nightclubs and large events.
Meanwhile Dr David Nabarro, a World Health Organisation (WHO) special envoy for Covid-19, told Sky News there was “light at the end of the tunnel” for the UK in tackling Covid-19.
He said: “Looking at it from a UK point of view, there does appear to be light at the end of the tunnel… I think that it’s going to be bumpy before we get to the end.
“So even though it’s possible to start imagining that the end of the pandemic is not far away, just everybody be ready for the possibility that there will be more variations and mutations coming along, or that there will be further challenges, other surges of even Omicron coming.”
He said children do not get very ill from Covid-19, and “we’re going to have children acting as vectors of the virus for some time to come.”
He said there was a need to still be “respectful of this virus”, adding: “Do what you can to stop transmitting it. Do what you can to protect others from being affected by it. It’s not the common cold.
“I know people would like it to be but it’s a virus that has still some really unpleasant features. Let’s do our best to protect people from it if we possibly can.”
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