Britain's rising numbers of COVID-19 infections and an increase in people being hospitalised with the disease demonstrate that there is a serious problem, health minister Matt Hancock said on Wednesday.
"It is a challenge, and everybody will have seen, from the rising case rates and unfortunately the rising hospitalisation rates which have risen really quite sharply in the last week or so, that we have got a very serious problem on our hands," Hancock said at a Confederation of British Industry webinar.
"The challenge is how to deal with this second peak in a way that has as little damage as possible. Thankfully we know far more about it than first time around."
(Reporting by Alistair Smout; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
