A CABINET minister has insisted the Government made the “right decisions at the right time” through the coronavirus crisis, after the UK's death toll passed 100,000.

However, Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick admitted some things could have been done differently “with the benefit of hindsight”.

He told Sky News: “We took the decisions that we could at the time on the basis of the information that was available to us.

“And we did everything that we could to protect people’s lives and help to weather the storm, and take the country through this very challenging period.

“There is no textbook as to how to respond to a pandemic like this, but we do believe that we took the right decisions at the right time.”

The UK's number of coronavirus deaths passed 100,000 on Tuesday – but separate data published by statistics agencies places the toll at 115,000.

It is almost a year since the first known coronavirus death occurred in the UK on January 30.

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Mr Jenrick said Home Secretary Priti Patel would set out “further steps” to control the flow of people arriving into England in a House of Commons statement later on Wednesday.

She is expected to announce a limited plan forcing arrivals from Covid-19 hotspots to quarantine in hotels.

The move is designed to protect the country against new coronavirus variants arriving from overseas – but these are said to be softer than Ms Patel had hoped, with The Times reporting she had pushed for a temporary closure of the UK’s borders, but was overruled by Mr Johnson.

There was no official comment following the meeting of the Covid operations committee of senior ministers on Tuesday, but Whitehall sources ahead of the talks suggested the measures could stop short of mandatory hotel quarantines for all arrivals.

They suggested the rules may only apply to British nationals returning to England from high-risk nations, with passengers expected to cover the price of quarantining.

Reports suggest the committee rejected calls for a full border closure and will instead limit it to those returning from 30 countries already covered by the travel ban, including those in South America, Portugal and Cape Verde, as well as South Africa and neighbouring nations.