Government scientific advisers suggested a tougher Tier 4 lockdown category amid fears the rules were not strict enough to shrink the epidemic.
Newly published SAGE papers show the experts warned the three-tier system did not go far enough and questioned whether a higher tier was needed.
The scientific advisory panel also questioned the point of Tier 1 rules, saying Tier 2 is "the minimum intervention required to maintain any degree of control on transmission".
The documents were published as Boris Johnson confirmed that England's national lockdown would end on December 2 and the country would move into a new three-tier system.
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