British Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove defended the government's decision to send personal protective equipment (PPE) to China in February during an interview on the BBC's Andew Marr show on Sunday.

"We did send protective equipment to China, but I think it's important to stress two things there, as well," said Gove. 

"The first thing is that the personal protective equipment that we sent to China was to help with the most extreme outbreak in Wuhan. That personal protective equipment was not from our pandemic stock."

He went on to say that the PPE equipment that China had sent to Britain had outweighed the amount sent by London to Beijing. 

"We've received far more from China in personal protective equipment than we've given. So again if you take that single fact and say 'oh look we've been running down our stocks', then you create a particular narrative."

Health care workers have criticized the UK government for the shortages and for advice that some PPE worn while treating patients infected with coronavirus could be re-used.

Britain is at or near the peak of a health crisis in which more than 15,000 people have died - the fifth highest national death toll of a pandemic linked to at least 150,000 deaths worldwide.

Gove added during the interview that the UK was not considering lifting the lockdown imposed almost four weeks ago to control the coronavirus outbreak until the right data and information regarding slowing infection rates and deaths was in place.