It's not clear to me that it matters if he said this or not in the end. What's far more important is the delay across September/October, when far more action was needed to avert the danger of that second wave; and then, again in early December, when the November restrictions were relaxed far too early and allowed the good work of November to be utterly undone. A rant that could easily be explained away, as a PM feeling he has no easy choices and venting after a tense meeting, just doesn't register for me compared to that.