he explained, the new variant is spread more evenly throughout the nation.
Adopting a cautious approach and avoiding any promises, he said: "If you look at the way the new variant has taken off across the country, it's a pretty national phenomenon.
"The charts I see, we're all sort of moving pretty much in the same sort of way, I mean there are a few discrepancies, a few differences, so it may be that we will go for a national approach but there may be an advantage still in some regional differentiation as well."
The Prime Minister did however promise to publish a roadmap out of lockdown on February 22, which should include dates for non-essential shops and hospitality businesses, and, he said, will allow Britons to "begin steadily to reclaim our lives."
There is still cause to withold excitement, however, as The Telegraph reported on the weekend Britain may not be able to scrap social distancing rules this year, unless a vaccine proves to be 85 per cent effective at stopping transmission of coronavirus as well as severe illness.
"I don't want to give too much concrete by way of dates for our summer holidays. I am optimistic - I understand the reasons for being optimistic - but some things have got to go right," he said.
"The vaccine programme has got to continue to be successful. We have got to make sure we don't get thrown off course by new variants, we have got to make sure that we continue to keep the disease under control and the level of infections come down."
