Matt Hancock: How we’ll get to 100,000 tests a day

The health secretary Matt Hancock spoke to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme earlier this morning where he explained how he thought the government could reach his new target of 100,000 coronavirus tests a day. This is an edited transcript of that conversation: 

Mishal Husain How do we get from a testing level of 10,000 tests a day to 100,000 a day in England by the end of the month? That target, unveiled by the government yesterday, includes both swab tests, currently being used to diagnose whether people have the coronavirus, and the as yet unvalidated antibody test, which would identify those who have had it and which could therefore be a key part of adjusting the social distancing rules currently in place. The new target on testing comes as the number of deaths reached 2,921 in the UK. Cases of the infection around the world are now above a million. And Matt Hancock, the health secretary for England, is on the line now.