Mr Gove told Times Radio: “We do keep things under review, and we’ll be talking to headteachers and teachers in the next 24, 48 hours just to make sure that our plans… are really robust.”
He added: “It is our intention to make sure we can get children back to school as early as possible.
“But we all know that there are trade-offs.
“As a country, we have decided – and I think this is the right thing to do – that we prioritise children returning to school.
“But we have a new strain and it is also the case that we have also had, albeit in a very limited way, Christmas mixing, so we do have to remain vigilant.”
