TARGET HIT
MATT Hancock has smashed his 100,000 testing target with 122,347 completed on the last day of April.
A huge ramping up on the final day of the month meant an extra 40,000 coronavirus tests were done, the Government's data showed.
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He told the nation at the No10 briefing: "At the beginning of last month I set a goal, that anyone who needs a test should get a test.
"That as a nation we should achieve 100,000 per day by the end of the month.
"I knew it was an audacious goal, but we needed an audacious goal because testing is so important.
"I can announce we have met our goal.
"This unprecedented expansion in British testing capability is an incredible achievement."
Health Secretary Mr Hancock set the ambitious target earlier this month as part of a promise to increase the numbers of tests being done.
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.
However, critics pointed out that the testing figure was not the total tests that had been done, but included thousands of home test kits had been sent out in the post.
Some of them may not yet have taken place, or the results have not yet been sent back.
Some accused the Government of fiddling the figures to hit the test target.
In the same briefing, Mr Hancock also told the nation that schools would not reopen until it was fully safe to do so.
He stressed that kids' safety would not be at risk.
But he dodged questioning on whether parents would face fines if they didn't send their children in, when the lockdown measures are lifted.
It came after a poll today said around half of people would feel uncomfortable doing so after restrictions are lifted.
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Home testing kits have been flying this week, with ministers releasing nearly 15,000 a day direct to doorsteps.
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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Britain is recruiting an army of tracers at the moment to form part of a huge team, 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.
At the moment, the estimated number is still running at 350,000, according to the King’s College London tracker.
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