People in England should work from home “if they can” to reduce social mixing and slow the spread of the virus, Michael Gove has said.
The Cabinet Office Minister also told some news channels this moring that trials of spectators at sports fixtures would be “paused”.
It comes as pubs, bars, restaurants and other hospitality venues in England are told they must have a 10 pm closing time from Thursday.
Full details will be set out by the prime minister in Parliament later.
Boris Johnson is meeting the first ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and will address the nation in a live broadcast at 8 pm tonight (22 September).
As well as the early closing time for hospitality venues, he is expected to announce they will be restricted by law to table service only.
In July, the prime minister said people should “start to go back to work now if you can” and last month the government launched a campaign to encourage workers back to offices.
Mr Gove told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We are stressing that if it is safe to work in your workplace, if you are in a COVID-secure workplace, then you should be there if your job requires it.
“But, if you can work from home you should.”
Asked if that was a change in advice, Mr Gove said: “Yes.”
Grove echoed the same message on Sky News this morning saying that is you can work for home and this is possible to do so, but he understands may sectors are unable to do this like manufacturing and retail however these places need to follow guidance and be COVID-secure .