British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that his government's approach to controlling the spread of Covid-19 was still the right one, despite rising infection rates, Reuters reported.

Johnson's strategy over the summer, when new nationwide infections were in the low hundreds per day, was to try to shut down localised outbreaks while reopening the wider economy.

Since then, new cases have risen sharply, with more than 14,000 reported on Wednesday and data beginning to show a slow rise in the number of virus patients admitted to hospital.

“The local and regional approach combined with the national measures remains correct,” Johnson told parliament when asked why infections continued to rise in areas where local lockdown measures have been put in place.