THE UK Health Secretary was last night under pressure over his 100,000-a-day testing target amid claims the figures were manipulated to hit the goal.

In his daily press briefing Matt Hancock said in the 24 hours up to 9am yesterday there were 122,347 tests in the UK, a significant rise on Thursday’s figure of 81,611.

The row came as the official death toll across the UK from the virus increased to 27,180, including 739 fatalities reported yesterday morning.

Hancock told journalists: “At the beginning of last month, at this podium, I set a goal: that anyone who needs a test should get a test. I knew that it was an audacious goal but we needed an audacious goal because testing is so important for getting Britain back on her feet.

“I can announce that we have met our goal. The number of tests yesterday, on the last day of April, was 122,347.”

He added: “This unprecedented expansion in British testing capability is an incredible achievement but it is not my achievement. It is a national achievement, achieved by a huge team of people working together.

“And I tell you this, the testing capacity that we’ve built together will help every single person in this country.”

However, the announcement came amid a row over claims his department had revised its method of counting Covid-19 tests in order to reach the target in time for the end of April.

Health Service Journal reported that home testing kits dispatched by post had been included in the daily tally of tests, even if recipients had not yet returned their sample to a laboratory.

According to the title, the most senior official at the Department for Health and Social Care, Chris Wormald, signed off a change to the way the daily headline figure was counted, with a source telling HSJ: “We’re now counting a home test as tests which have been sent to people’s homes.”

Hancock said the report’s claims were “not something I recognise”.

READ MORE: This is how Westminster changed rules to hit 100,000 tests target

The Department of Health’s website confirmed the total daily number of tests now included both those “processed through our labs” and “tests sent to individuals at home or to satellite testing locations”.

Professor John Newton, director of public health improvement at NHS England, told the daily press conference that the figures used to hit the target included 27,497 kits delivered to homes and 12,872 delivered to satellite sites.

Widespread testing for Covid-19 is seen as a crucial part of easing the UK-wide lockdown, allowing those with the disease to self-isolate while officials carry out contact tracing to alert those that infected people have come into contact with.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said more than 81,600 tests for coronavirus were carried out on more than 54,000 people the previous day. This represented a jump of 30,000 tests since the previous 24-hour period.

A tweet sent from the No10 account earlier this month said: “We’ll test 100,000 people a day by the end of this month.”

Labour seized on the HSJ report to accuse the Government of “moving the goalposts to hit their own arbitrary target”.

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.”

The LibDem acting leader Ed Davey said the Government had chosen to “massage the metrics”. He said: “Liberal Democrats have long called for the Government to be frank about what is and is not achievable, to ensure transparency and maintain public trust, but ministers continue to play fast and loose with the truth.”