A search for simple treatments for Covid that can be taken at home has been launched by Boris Johnson.
The PM said he hoped pills or capsules could be available by the autumn to help fight an anticipated third wave.
The aim would be to give them to people who have tested positive or exposed to someone who has.
An antiviral taskforce is being set up to oversee the work and future trials – as yet there are no treatments identified that could be used.
For the first time since September the latest figures show fewer than 2,000 Covid-19 patients in hospital.
But as he launched the new taskforce at a televised press briefing, Mr Johnson acknowledged soaring cases overseas and warnings from scientists that there will be another wave this year.
He said: “As we look at what is happening in other countries, with cases now at record numbers around the world, we cannot delude ourselves that Covid has gone away.
“I see nothing in the data now that makes me think we are going to have to deviate in any way from the road map – cautious but irreversible – that we have set out.
“But the majority of scientific opinion in this country is still firmly of the view that there will be another wave of Covid at some stage this year.
“And so we must, as far as possible, learn to live with this disease as we live with other diseases.”