Matt Hancock didn’t just reach his 100,000 daily testing target, he claims he overshot it considerably with 122,347 tests carried out in the 24 hours to 9am today.
It seems a significant achievement since the health secretary’s own cabinet colleagues were publicly doubting him as recently as yesterday.
Yet the real advantage of a target, as Mr Hancock admitted this evening, is it has “a galvanising effect on everyone involved. It is a mission”.
Image: The government has surpassed its testing target
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Hancock: ‘We have met our goal’
Clearly the countdown clock in the Department for Health focused the minds of civil servants.
However today’s figure does include 40,369 home testing kits and tests carried out at satellite centres, but not necessarily returned yet.
Some critics claim that is a manipulation of the statistics. People will make up their own minds, but even taking into account the accusation that numbers have been massaged, the government has managed to considerably boost its testing capacity in a matter of weeks.
As a former chief of staff to George Osborne – himself a canny strategist – Mr Hancock knows that setting an achievable aim, and then achieving it, is a well-worn political tactic.
With such a complex issue as the government’s response to COVID-19, it is a simple, binary way of allowing the public to assess competence: either you meet it, or you don’t.
The health secretary has not just burnished his own reputation but helped build confidence in the work of his colleagues.
However Mr Hancock knows that testing is now most useful as part of a ‘test, track and trace’ programme.
This would track the transmission of the virus, and trace those an infected person has had contact with. It will be vital for reducing the ‘R’ rate of reproduction, and keeping it down.
The government is now recruiting 18,000 contact tracers but the scheme is unlikely to be up and running until mid-May.
And some argue – as with much of the government’s response – all this should have happened much sooner.
Of the 122,347 tests provided in the 24 hours up to Friday morning, the number of people tested was fewer - at just over 70,000 - as has been the case since the testing programme began. This is because some people need to be tested more than once to get a reliable result.
The total testing figure includes 27,497 kits which were delivered to people's homes and also 12,872 tests that were sent out to centres such as hospitals and NHS sites.
However, these may not have been actually used or sent back to a lab.
Labour's shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth suggested the government had been misleading. "This isn't a time for quibbling but actually 39,000 of these tests have simply been posted out so it's not quite that the government have hit their commitment," he told the BBC News channel.
"I don't think posting out the tests is the same as carrying out tests but nonetheless it is welcome that testing has increased."
Prior to 28 April, there was no reference to how tests were counted, but on 28 April guidance on the government website said home tests and satellite tests were being included.
At the daily Downing Street briefing, Prof John Newton - a scientist advising the government on testing - said there had been "no change to the way tests are counted".
"As we've developed new ways of delivering tests, we've taken advice from officials as to how they should be counted," he said.
"So, the tests that are done within the control of the programme - which is the great majority - are counted when the tests are undertaken in our laboratories.
"But, for any test which goes outside the control of the programme, they're counted when they leave the programme - so that's the tests that are mailed out to people at home and the test that's gone out on the satellite."
The headline figures certainly look impressive - 122,000 tests in a day. Just a week ago around 25,000 were being recorded and a month ago it stood at 10,000.
It is testament to the hard work that has been done behind the scenes by a partnership of government, scientists and the private sector - with a helping hand from the military.
But has the government been a little creative with its counting? It has included home-testing kits sent out to individuals as well as the satellite kits - these are batches of tests sent out to care homes and other settings where there are lots of people who need testing.
Some, no doubt, will never be returned.
A week ago these made little difference to the figures - only a few thousand a day were being sent out. But now they account for around a third of the tests.
In his opening remarks, the health secretary suggested the government's 100,000 target had had a "galvanising effect".
He said the testing capacity built since then would "help every single person in this country", and would "help us to unlock the lockdown".
Mr Hancock said the government's "next mission" was its test, track and trace operation and work was already under way to roll it out.
"By mid-May, we will have an initial 18,000 contact tracers in place," he said.
"The combination of contact tracers and new technology, through our new Covid-19 NHS app, will help tell us where the virus is spreading and help everyone to control new infections."
Mr Hancock added that the next phase would allow the government "to reassert, as much as is safely possible, the liberty of us all".
How testing was expanded
The Department of Health established a testing network, including three "mega labs" to test samples, almost 50 drive-through centres, a home-testing service and mobile testing units, as part of the drive to achieve the government's target.
Meanwhile, Mr Hancock also expanded the list of people eligible for testing throughout the month.
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At first, across the UK, the focus was on testing the sickest patients in hospitals, followed by health, care and emergency services staff.
As of last week, other essential workers and their families in England became eligible for testing, if they showed symptoms.
Testing was further expanded in England earlier this week to millions more people, with symptoms including over-65s, those who have to leave home to work, and people living with someone in these groups.
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Of the 122,347 tests provided in the 24 hours up to Friday morning, the number of people tested was fewer - at just over 70,000. This could be down to some people having to be tested more than once.
The total testing figure includes 27,497 kits which were delivered to people's homes and also 12,872 tests that were sent out to centres such as hospitals and NHS sites.
However, these may not have been actually used or sent back to a lab.
Labour's shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth suggested the government had been misleading by counting tests that had been mailed out to people, rather than completed.
"Tonight's headline figure shouldn't count tests that hadn't been used, or indeed, might never be used as a completed test," he said.
Prior to 28 April, there was no reference to how tests were counted, but on 28 April guidance on the government website said home tests and satellite tests were being included.
At the daily Downing Street briefing, Prof John Newton - a scientist advising the government on testing - said there had been "no change to the way tests are counted".
"As we've developed new ways of delivering tests, we've taken advice from officials as to how they should be counted," he said.
"So, the tests that are done within the control of the programme - which is the great majority - are counted when the tests are undertaken in our laboratories.
"But, for any test which goes outside the control of the programme, they're counted when they leave the programme - so that's the tests that are mailed out to people at home and the test that's gone out on the satellite."
The headline figures certainly look impressive - 122,000 tests in a day. Just a week ago around 25,000 were being recorded and a month ago it stood at 10,000.
It is testament to the hard work that has been done behind the scenes by a partnership of government, scientists and the private sector - with a helping hand from the military.
But has the government been a little creative with its counting? It has included home-testing kits sent out to individuals as well as the satellite kits - these are batches of tests sent out to care homes and other settings where there are lots of people who need testing.
Some, no doubt, will never be returned.
A week ago these made little difference to the figures - only a few thousand a day were being sent out. But now they account for around a third of the tests.
In his opening remarks, the health secretary suggested the government's 100,000 target had had a "galvanising effect".
He said the testing capacity built since then would "help every single person in this country", and would "help us to unlock the lockdown".
Mr Hancock said the government's "next mission" was its test, track and trace operation and work was already under way to roll it out.
"By mid-May, we will have an initial 18,000 contact tracers in place," he said.
"The combination of contact tracers and new technology, through our new Covid-19 NHS app, will help tell us where the virus is spreading and help everyone to control new infections."
Mr Hancock added that the next phase would allow the government "to reassert, as much as is safely possible, the liberty of us all".
How testing was expanded
The Department of Health established a testing network, including three "mega labs" to test samples, almost 50 drive-through centres, a home-testing service and mobile testing units, as part of the drive to achieve the government's target.
Meanwhile, Mr Hancock also expanded the list of people eligible for testing throughout the month.
At first, across the UK, the focus was on testing the sickest patients in hospitals, followed by health, care and emergency services staff.
As of last week, other essential workers and their families in England became eligible for testing, if they showed symptoms.
Testing was further expanded in England earlier this week to millions more people, with symptoms including over-65s, those who have to leave home to work, and people living with someone in these groups.
Of the 122,347 tests provided in the 24 hours up to Friday morning, the number of people tested was fewer - at just over 70,000. This could be down to some people having to be tested more than once.
The total figure includes 27,497 testing kits which were delivered to people's homes - but these may not have been actually completed or returned to a lab.
A further 12,872 tests were sent out to so-called "satellite centres" such as hospitals and NHS sites.
Labour's shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth suggested the government had been misleading by counting tests that had been mailed out to people, rather than completed and sent back.
"Tonight's headline figure shouldn't count tests that hadn't been used, or indeed, might never be used as a completed test," he said.
At the daily Downing Street briefing, Prof John Newton - a scientist advising the government on testing - said any tests that are done "within the control of the programme, which is the great majority, are counted when the tests are undertaken in our laboratories".
But he said any test that goes "outside the control of the programme" are counted when they leave the programme.
"So that's the tests that are mailed out to people at home and the test that's gone out on the satellite."
He added: "That's the way they are counted, have always been counted, and the way we were advised to count them by officials."
The headline figures certainly look impressive - 122,000 tests in a day. Just a week ago around 25,000 were being recorded and a month ago it stood at 10,000.
It is testament to the hard work that has been done behind the scenes by a partnership of government, scientists and the private sector - with a helping hand from the military.
But has the government been a little creative with its counting? It has included home-testing kits sent out to individuals as well as the satellite kits - these are batches of tests sent out to care homes and other settings where there are lots of people who need testing.
Some, no doubt, will never be returned.
A week ago these made little difference to the figures - only a few thousand a day were being sent out. But now they account for around a third of the tests.
In his opening remarks, the health secretary suggested the government's 100,000 target had had a "galvanising effect".
He said the testing capacity built since then would "help every single person in this country", and would "help us to unlock the lockdown".
Mr Hancock said the government's "next mission" was the roll-out of its test, track and trace operation.
"By mid-May, we will have an initial 18,000 contact tracers in place," he said.
"That work is under way as we speak and if it needs to be bigger, we will scale it as required.
"The combination of contact tracers and new technology, through our new Covid-19 NHS app, will help tell us where the virus is spreading and help everyone to control new infections."
Mr Hancock added that the next phase would allow the government "to reassert, as much as is safely possible, the liberty of us all".
How testing was expanded
The Department of Health established a testing network, including three "mega labs" to test samples, almost 50 drive-through centres, a home-testing service and mobile testing units, as part of the drive to achieve the government's target.
Meanwhile, Mr Hancock also expanded the list of people eligible for testing throughout the month.
At first, across the UK, the focus was on testing the sickest patients in hospitals, followed by health, care and emergency services staff.
As of last week, other essential workers and their families in England became eligible for testing, if they showed symptoms.
Testing was further expanded earlier this week to millions more people, with symptoms including over-65s, those who have to leave home to work, and people living with someone in these groups.
The UK deployed more than 122,000 coronavirus tests on the last day of April, passing the government's target, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said.
Mr Hancock said the target of 100,000 tests per day was an "audacious goal", but testing was necessary "for getting Britain back on her feet".
The figure includes home test kits counted when they were dispatched, which may not yet have been processed.
Mr Hancock set the goal on 2 April, when the UK was on 10,000 tests a day.
The latest figures show 27,510 people have now died in UK hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus, a daily increase of 739.
At the daily Downing Street briefing, the health secretary suggested the target had had a "galvanising effect" towards increasing testing capacity in the UK.
He added that the testing capacity built would "help every single person in this country", and stressed that testing would "help us to unlock the lockdown".
Mr Hancock said the teams who increased the capacity, had "joined in one of the greatest national mobilisations we've seen".
The health secretary said the government's "next mission" was the roll-out of its test, track and trace operation.
Mr Hancock said: "By mid-May, we will have an initial 18,000 contact tracers in place," he said.
"That work is under way as we speak and if it needs to be bigger, we will scale it as required.
"The combination of contact tracers and new technology, through our new Covid-19 NHS app, will help tell us where the virus is spreading and help everyone to control new infections."
Mr Hancock added that the next phase would allow the government "to reassert, as much as is safely possible, the liberty of us all".
Some 122,347 tests were deployed in the 24 hours up to 09:00 BST on Friday.
The Department of Health established a testing network, including three "mega labs" to test samples, almost 50 drive-through centres, a home-testing service and mobile testing units, as part of the drive to achieve the government's target.
Carrying out over 122,000 tests in a day is a remarkable feat. Just two days ago, the number of tests carried out was just over 50,000.
It is testament to the hard work that has been done behind the scenes by a partnership of government, scientists and the private sector - with a helping hand from the military.
One question remains though. The government has counted home-testing kits sent out. Some, no doubt, will never be returned.
At this point we don't know how many home-testing kits are being counted. There was expected to be around 25,000 a day dispatched at this point.
If it is many more than that, people will question how correct the claims of achieving 100,000 tests a day actually are.
Meanwhile, Mr Hancock expanded the list of people eligible for testing throughout the month.
At first, across the UK, the focus was on testing the sickest patients in hospitals, followed by health, care and emergency services staff.
As of last week, other essential workers and their families in England became eligible for testing, if they showed symptoms.
Testing was further expanded earlier this week to millions more people, with symptoms including over-65s, those who have to leave home to work, and people living with someone in these groups.
People living in more deprived areas of England and Wales are more likely to die with coronavirus than those in more affluent places, new figures suggest.
Office for National Statistics analysis
shows there were 55 deaths for every 100,000 people in the poorest parts of England, compared with 25 in the wealthiest areas.
Mortality rates are normally higher in poorer areas.
But the ONS said coronavirus appeared to be adding to the problem.
Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said the report showed the virus thrived on inequality.
"Ministers must target health inequalities with an overarching strategy to tackle the wider social determinants of ill-health," he said.
Across the country, the highest rates of deaths have been in urban areas where lots of people live. The overall mortality rate in London has been almost double that of the next highest region.
The data also shows the Covid-19 mortality rate in the most deprived areas of England has been higher among men, with 76.7 deaths per 100,000 people, compared with 39.6 per 100,000 women.
"General mortality rates are normally higher in more deprived areas, but so far Covid-19 appears to be taking them higher still," said Nick Stripe, ONS head of health analysis.
The ONS used the Index of Multiple Deprivation, a relative measure of poverty last updated in 2019.
The index takes into account factors such as an area's income, employment, crime and health deprivation and disability.
The ONS studied the 20,283 deaths involving Covid-19 that took place between 1 March and 17 April. In England, it found the mortality rate in the most deprived areas was 55.1 deaths per 100,000 population, while the rate was 25.3 deaths per 100,000 in the least deprived areas.
In Wales, statisticians found the most deprived fifth of areas had a mortality rate of 44.6 deaths per 100,000 population, almost twice as high as the rate for the least deprived areas of 23.2 deaths per 100,000.
It also found:
South-west England had the lowest Covid-19 mortality rate, with 16.4 deaths per 100,000 population
The council areas with the highest Covid-19 mortality rates were all in London. Newham had the highest rate with 144.3 deaths per 100,000 population, followed by Brent at 141.5 and Hackney at 127.4
David Finch, a senior fellow at the Health Foundation, said people in deprived areas were at higher risk of exposure to Covid-19 because they were likely to live in cramped housing conditions.
He said those people were also more likely to have one or more long-term health condition, meaning they would be at greater risk of suffering severe symptoms from the virus if exposed.
'Forgotten victims'
Chief executive of children's charity Barnardo's Javed Khan said the ONS study was "worrying" but "unfortunately not surprising".
"Vulnerable children and families - and those already experiencing disadvantage - risk becoming the forgotten victims," he added.
"Without intervention, this crisis will be devastating for a whole generation - their mental health, safety, education and job prospects are on the line."
The ONS analysis comes as a separate study from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) says coronavirus patients from black African backgrounds in England and Wales
are dying at more than triple the rate of white Britons
.
The IFS said a higher proportion of people from ethnic minority backgrounds lived in areas hit harder by Covid-19.
MATT Hancock smashed his coronavirus testing target of 100,000 today, with 122,347 done on the last day of April, he revealed tonight. A huge ramping up on the final day of the month meant an extra 40,000 tests were done, the Government's data showed.
He has expanded the criteria meaning that 25million NHS staff, key workers and others who need to leave the house to go to their job can now get a test.
Yesterday Boris Johnson revealed that the country was 20,000 short of the target, and had tested 81,000 on the second to last day before the target had to be met.
The Housing Secretary said: "I think we will have either met it or be very close."
"In that sense the target will have succeeded because it will have galvanised people across government, in the private sector and across the country to build the network that we needed to, which is the foundation of testing, tracking and tracing, which we need in the next phase of fighting the virus."
He added: "This in itself is just a stepping stone.
"We need to go beyond 100,000, but we have now seen a very substantial increase in testing in quite a short period of time.
"In that sense, it's been a success. But there's more to be done."
However, critics pointed out that the testing figure did not include the total tests that had been done, but included thousands of home test kits that went out in the post.
Some of them may not have taken place, or the results not yet sent back.
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Testing this month has reached the targetCredit: gov.uk
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A nurse prepares to take a sample at a Covid-19 drive through testing centreCredit: PA:Press Association
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Grant Shapps echoed the same words last night, telling BBC Newsnight: "At the beginning of the week we only had 5,000 home tests available, we now have 20,000 available and it's the reason we are quite likely to get very close to or meet the 100,000 target."
Home testing kits have been flying this week, with ministers releasing nearly 15,000 a day direct to doorsteps.
A Government source also told the BBC they were "fairly confident" that testing numbers "will be where our projections forecasted them to be".
"But you can never take anything for granted," they added.
Testing is seen as being the first stage of a plan to end the lockdown.
More testing will be set up, followed by an extensive track and trace programme to target anyone who may have been in contact with the killer bug.
Boris Johnson tweeted this morning an appeal for Brits to stay on track and work together to beat the bug.
He said: "I can confirm that we are past the peak of this disease.
"We are past the peak and we are on the downward slope.
"And we have so many reasons to be hopeful for the long term.
"But we can only defeat coronavirus by our collective discipline and working together."
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Matt Hancock set the ambitious target of getting to 100,000 a day by the end of AprilCredit: crown copyright
Britain is recruiting an army of tracers at the moment to form part of a huge ten, expected to be in the tens of thousands.
Chasing down people that new sufferers have mixed with to halt contagion chains has proved hugely successful in countries like South Korea and Germany.
But for track and trace to work, ministers believe the number who currently have the virus will need to be reduced to 100,000 first, The Sun can reveal.
Without the track and trace scheme in place, it is likely the Cabinet will decide the full lockdown will have to stay in place beyond the next review point on May 7.
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Boris Johnson reveals government is still nearly 20,000 short of Matt Hancock's 100,000 coronavirus test target
