Boris Johnson was grilled by members of the public over his changes to the lockdown measures.
But the Prime Minister sowed more confusion after a press conference in which he gave conflicting messages.
Members of the public demanded to know when they could see relatives, if it was safe for children to go back to school and whether workers would be protected.
It came after the Prime Minister made an address to the nation on Sunday night telling families they could now exercise an unlimited number of times every day and giving them the option to meet with someone outside their own household.
He urged people who are unable to work from home to go back to work.
But he did so before the guidelines on protecting them were published.
Pooja in Solihull asked the Prime Minister why new instructions on who could get to work are "so vague."
The Prime Minister said "we've had to make a big, big change in our lives over the last couple of months" and pointed to the clarity of the old stay at home messaging.
He added: "It's when you come to take small steps back to normality, as we are now, that clearly the message becomes finer, more complicated."
He told the daily briefing: "We're saying that if you can't work from home you should talk to your employer about getting back to work, but explained: "We're insisting that it's got to be safe at work and safe to get there."
Aside from some other small changes to exercise rules, Mr Johnson insisted: "Things are pretty much as they have been and they will be until we start to make further progress driving down that R getting to steps 2 and 3."
Mr Johnson said that random spot inspections will be carried out in workplaces to ensure staff feel safe when returning to work.
Asked why some low-skilled workers, who are more vulnerable to coronavirus, are being actively encouraged to return to work from Wednesday, the Prime Minister said "there's no question that it is falling hardest on certain groups".
"I want to be clear that yes, in saying that people who can't work from home should now go to work, we are absolutely, categorical, that their workplace, your workplace must be safe, must be Covid-secure and employers will not be allowed to get away with forcing people to work in conditions that are not Covid-secure," he added.
But unions have voiced concerns that there is not enough protections in place - and have even threatened to tell their members not to staff.
The government's official guidance does not give much advice for staff who feel unsafe simply saying that they can use the mediation service ACAS if they feel they are being unfairly treated.
Mr Johnson added today: "Everyone must obey social distancing and we're going to have a lot more inspections by the Health and Safety Executive, we'll have a random spot inspections to check that companies are doing the right thing.
"If people find themselves in conditions that they think are unsafe, then they should immediately report it and we will take action, and that goes for all work.
Even the simple change to meeting people outside have caused confusion.
Asked by a member of the public whether people can meet friends and family at the park while observing social distancing rules, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said "just as a pair".
Mr Johnson explained: "What we are saying is that you can go to the park to exercise on your own in an unlimited way, you can go with members of your own household.
"But if you want to meet somebody from outside your household, it's got to be you and that other person just as a pair and you should observe social distancing while you're there.
"And so each of you basically on a one-on-one thing but with social distancing, keeping two metres apart."
The government's chief medical officer Chris Whitty said scientists on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) group were confident that "the risks of transmission outdoors was much lower than the risks of transmission indoors".
But he added that they were not zero, adding: "We therefore want to take these modest steps one stage at a time and that's why the ministers and the Government has decided to make this small change... but does not lead to people meeting multiple people outside their household at once."
Mr Johnson added that meeting lots of members of family from another household at the park while standing two metres apart was "pushing it too far".
Mr Johnson was also forced to explain the people were not allowed to travel to beauty spots.
Boris Johnson has told the daily Downing Street press conference that people cannot travel to UK beauty spots to stay for long periods of time.
Asked if there would be a limit on how far people could travel for their daily exercise, the Prime Minister, said: "What we're saying is we want people to be able to use the outdoors to be able to exercise in an unlimited way outdoors but they've got to obey social distancing.
"So there can't be any question of people just going off for holidays for staying in places like the Lake District, if they do go to exercise, it's got to be done with social distancing.
"If there's going to be more than one, it's got to be members of their own household and of course as we've said before, if you are going to meet anybody else in that open space, it's got to be one-on-one and again it's got to be exercising social distancing."
The Prime Minister explained the "new Covid alert level system" in place which he says is governing ministers' response.
Boris Johnson said: "The Covid Alert Level has five levels, each relating to the level of threat posed by the virus.
"The level will be primarily determined by the R value and the number of coronavirus cases.
"In turn, that Covid Alert Level will determine the level of social distancing measures in place."
He added: "The lower the level, the fewer the measures."
He said that since lockdown started, the country has been at Level 4, "meaning a Covid-19 epidemic is in general circulation and transmission is high or rising exponentially."
He told the briefing: "Thanks to the hard work, sacrifices of the British people in this lockdown, we've helped to bring the R level down and the number of infections down and we're now in a position to begin moving to Level 3 in steps."
