All key NHS and social care workers who need to be tested for coronavirus will be, the health secretary has claimed.

Matt Hancock said the Government now has the capacity to test all frontline staff who need it, with significant numbers self-isolating in fear of having contracted Covid-19.

Suggesting that the country is ‘on target’ to reach 100,000 tests a day by the end of the month, he told the Downing Street press briefing: ‘I can announce today that we have capacity for all key social care staff and NHS staff who need to be tested to get those tests.’

Some 19,116 coronavirus tests were carried out across Great Britain on Thursday, with 5,706 coming back positive, he said. The number of people in hospital who have tested positive for the disease stands at 19,304, of which 8,958 had died – a record increase of 980 on the day before.

Mr Hancock added: ‘We never forget that behind this number, behind each one is a name, a loss, and a family that will never be the same again. And we all share a responsibility to tackle this virus, first and foremost by staying at home.’

The government is aiming to reach 100,000 tests a day by the end of the month, but Mr Hancock admitted there is still a ‘lot of work’ needed to reach the target.

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Asked how he expects to achieve this, the health secretary explained: ‘We have had a huge number of offers from people who have come to us and said “we can turn this facility which hasn’t been a coronavirus testing facility into a coronavirus testing facility”.’ 

Mr Hancock said some of the centres that had been offered included ones the Government did not know about.

He continued: ‘We are working 24/7 to hit it (the target).

‘Everyone can see the daily trajectory, which has almost doubled since I set it and we’ve clearly got a lot of work to get to our 100,000, but we are on track.’

Mr Hancock said 15 testing drive-through centres had been opened across the UK to enable more testing for frontline staff.

These are in locations including Glasgow, Cardiff, Belfast, Nottingham, Leeds and London.

And he said that two more ‘Lighthouse mega-labs’ were on track in Cheshire and Glasgow, after he opened the first one in Milton Keynes on Thursday.

AstraZeneca and GSK were also opening another testing facility in Cambridge at the end of the month, he added.

Meanwhile, plans for two new Nightingale hospitals, in Sunderland and Exeter, have also been announced.

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