Michael Gove said the country was in for a “very difficult” few weeks and could give no firm date for lifting the lockdown.
The senior government official said that March should mark the point at which restrictions are starting to be eased.
He added that Education Secretary Gavin Williamson will address a recalled House of Commons on Wednesday to update MPs on how pupils in England will be assessed at the end of the year, following further disruption to their learning.
READ MORE: Coronavirus: Scots told to stay home or risk breaking the law
The Cabinet Office minister told Sky News: “The Government is doing everything it can in order to ensure that we can roll out the vaccine more rapidly, help the vulnerable by getting the inoculations they need and make sure that at the end of what will inevitably be very, very difficult weeks, that life can eventually return to normal.”
“We will be able to review the progress that we’ve made on February 15, just before the traditional school half-term, and we hope that we will be able to progressively lift restrictions after that but what I can’t do is predict – nobody can predict – with accuracy exactly what we will be able to relax and when.
“What we do know is that the more effective our vaccination programme, the more people who are protected in that way, the easier it will be to lift these restrictions.”
He added: “We will keep these constantly under review but you are absolutely right, we can’t predict with certainty that we will be able to lift restrictions in the week commencing February 15-22.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon update RECAP: Tough lockdown confirmed with 'stay at home' law
“What we will be doing is everything that we can to make sure that as many people as possible are vaccinated, so that we can begin to progressively lift restrictions.
“I think it is right to say that as we enter March we should be able to lift some of these restrictions but not necessarily all.”
On the subject of schools in England, he said: “The Education Secretary has been talking to the exams regulator Ofqual in order that we can find a way of recognising the immense hard work that students across the country have put in this year.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he will back the new national lockdown in England.
When asked on BBC Breakfast on Tuesday if the new restrictions were what he had in mind when he called for another lockdown, Sir Keir said: “Yes, it is what we had in mind and we will back it.
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