Matt Hancock has told the public to “stick at” following the lockdown restrictions and other social distancing measures as he warned of a “stark picture” of coronavirus rates.

The Health Secretary told the Downing Street press conference the number of cases in England is down to one in 145 people but the rate of decline is “slowing”.

He said the rate of hospital admissions and deaths are still “far too high”, and one in five local authorities has seen a rise in case rates in the last week.

“This stark picture shows that this isn’t over yet, the stay at home rules are still in place for a reason,” he said.

“This is on all of us to keep this under control, this is still a deadly virus. We will get through this but we have to stick at it.”

Matt Hancock confirmed ministers will adopt the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s recommendation for the next phase of the vaccine rollout.

The Health Secretary told the Downing Street press conference: “This is the fastest and simplest way to roll out the jab. Our moral duty is to put saving lives first.

“So I can confirm that we will follow this clinical advice.

“I’m sure we all agree that the best approach is the one that saves the most lives.”

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, England’s deputy chief medical officer, presented what he called “quite sobering” slides at a Downing Street press conference showing a rise in coronavirus cases in some parts of the country.

He said the slides showed that there “were quite a few areas of the UK that are burning quite hot”, including in the Midlands and spreading up to the west coast of England.

“Although it is generally good news, I’m afraid it is better news in some places than it is in others and this is not a battle that we have won yet,” Prof Van-Tam said.

“In some parts of the UK, case rates are changing, albeit slowly, in the wrong direction.

“This is not a good sign and reinforces the fact that I’m afraid this battle at the moment is not won.”

Asked about plans for supporting university students out of lockdown, Matt Hancock said it “depends on the course you are studying and therefore how much you need to be physically present”.

He said: “Some courses have been running throughout, of course with Covid-secure arrangements, where people need to be in a lab or medical school for example.

“And then there’s others and especially arts subjects, where it is easier to learn and have that over Zoom or video conferencing.

“There is quite a lot of detail here and the Department for Education have put out a significant amount of guidance.

“As with everything else on the road map we’ve set out the indicative dates but also we’ve got to be vigilant on the data according to the four tests the Prime Minister set out.”

Prof Jonathan Van-Tam urged all those who had received the first dose of their vaccination to continue following the rules.

He told a press briefing: “Much as it is encouraging and much as I am upbeat about vaccines and how they are going to change how we live and what the disease is like between now and the summer, there is a long way to go.

“And my inbox in the last week has been besieged with people writing in saying, I’ve had the vaccine, essentially can I now start to break the rules?

“Can I go and see my grandchildren and do X, Y and Z? And the answer to that is no.

“We are not yet collectively, as a country, in the right place.”

Matt Hancock was asked: “Why has the Government removed guidance from last summer allowing couples in established relationships not to socially distance from each other and what would stop support bubbles being extended to allow couples to see each other again without limits on social contact?”

He said: “We made the change that we did because as we went into the lockdown over the autumn in November and again at the start of January we wanted to make sure we did everything we possibly could to stop this from spreading.

“I’m absolutely sure that the actions everybody is taking and the sacrifices people have made have had that very, very positive impact.”

He said rules were all kept “under review” but added: “The purpose of support bubbles is so people living on their own can socialise because we know just how difficult it is to live on your own if you have no contact at all.”

Prof Van-Tam continued: “All the patients that I vaccinate … I say to them, ‘Remember, all the rules still apply to you and all of us until we’re in a much safer place’. It doesn’t change because you’ve had your first dose of vaccine.

“And so, please don’t be tempted to think, ‘Well, one home visit might be alright now the weather is getting better, gonna be a nice weekend – one small gathering in your house won’t really matter’.

“I’m afraid it does and the data on the slides speak for themselves.

“So my key message tonight is look, this is all going very well but there are some worrying signs that people are relaxing, taking their foot off the brake at exactly the wrong time.

“It is a bit like being three-nil up in a game and thinking, ‘We can’t possibly lose this now’ – but how many times have we seen the other side take it four-three?

“Do not wreck this now. It is too early to relax. Just continue to maintain discipline and hang on just a few more months.”

Matt Hancock said a pilot “NHS reserves” scheme was under way to see how those who had volunteered to support the vaccine programme could be deployed in future.

The Health Secretary said: “The ‘jabs army’ marches on and they are doing an amazing job in helping everybody to get the vaccines.

“The voluntary effort around the vaccines has been unbelievably brilliant – the number of people who have come forward, the enthusiasm that has been shown and I’m very grateful to everybody who has given up their time.

“We are looking at a system of NHS reserves and the idea is that you have people who are committed to supporting the NHS through voluntary action, who have the training, for instance, and are on a specific reserves programme.

“We are piloting that right now but that is exactly the kind of thing the ‘jabs army’ might be called upon to do in the future in a broader sense because we’ve just seen the unbelievable support volunteers can give to the NHS when there is a big job to do.”

r Susan Hopkins and Prof Van-Tam were dismissive of the idea of primary school children wearing masks in lessons, both from a learning and health perspective.

The senior medical adviser at Public Health England Dr Hopkins said: “I think the important thing to say is we have looked at and reviewed the data and the evidence on this.

“School children have the lower amount of infections, especially primary school children, and in looking at it we have talked to educationalists, public health and clinical specialists and the consensus view is very strongly to not advise school children at primary school age to wear face coverings.

“This is for two reasons. One, they can have difficulty wearing them and keeping them on all day and the second part of that is that it is really important that they can see facial expressions in order to develop their communication and language skills.”

Prof Van-Tam said: “My perspective on this is more parental than it is technical and that is to say I find it quite a daunting proposition to try and keep face masks on 30 five-year-olds in the same room.

“I think you should just be focusing on the teaching.”