Hotels could be used for patients who no longer need full hospital treatment, Britain’s health minister said, as part of a further Covid-19 backup plan the government is not yet actively putting in place.

“This obviously would be a further backup plan [...] We consider all the options,” Matt Hancock told the BBC.

“This would be for step-down patients so patients who have been in hospital, who no longer need the full hospital treatment but aren’t quite ready to go home.”