Prime Minister Boris Johnson did make remarks suggesting that “bodies could pile high” during a heated discussion about lockdown in Downing Street in the autumn, the BBC has been told.
However on Monday, the prime minister denied making the remarks, after the Daily Mail carried a report of the conversation.
He added that people want ministers “to make sure that the lockdowns work.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he was “astonished” by the reports.
He added that: “Everybody would be deeply concerned, not least all those families who have lost someone in the pandemic.
On Monday, the Daily Mail published a story that Mr Johnson had said he would rather see “bodies pile high in their thousands” than order a third lockdown.
BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg says at the time the prime minister was reported to have had big concerns about the implications of another lockdown on the economy and non-Covid related health issues.
