LABOUR today accused the government of “moving the goalposts” after ministers claimed to have passed their target of 100,000 coronavirus tests per day by the end of April.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced at the Downing Street press conference that there were 122,347 coronavirus tests by the last day of April, which was on Thursday.

But guidance on the official government website appears to have changed in the days before the deadline.

The number of tests includes those that have been sent to people’s homes by post or have been conducted at drive-through testing centres – but have not yet returned results.

Before April 28, there was no reference to how tests were counted, but from that date the guidance said the count included: “(i) test conducted with a result and (ii) test posted to an individual at home.”

On April 30, the page again stated that the number of tests included “tests processed through our labs (and) tests sent to individuals at home or to satellite testing locations.”

Shadow health minister Justin Madders said: “We want the government’s test, isolate and trace strategy to succeed and welcomed expanding who was eligible to get a test, but counting a test put in the post is not the same as a conducted test and getting results.

“Ministers should focus on making sure these tests are administered effectively rather than moving the goalposts to hit their own arbitrary target.”

Mr Hancock also announced that 27,510 people in the UK had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus as of 5pm on Thursday – an increase of 739 deaths on the day before. 

The total number of people who have tested positive for the virus stood at 177,454, after increasing by 6,201 on the day before.