Coronavirus: Government can't say how many test results are coming back within 24 hours - one day before deadline

Downing Street cannot say how many coronavirus test results are coming back within 24 hours – one day before Boris Johnson’s deadline for all to be returned that quickly.

The prime minister vowed that all tests in hospitals and drive-through centres would be processed within a day by the end of June, after criticism that delays are undermining the test-and-trace system.

But, asked if the target would be met, his spokesman said only: “That is what we are working to do” – suggesting no figures on the progress made so far were available.

The lack of data risks fresh embarrassment for No 10, after health secretary Matt Hancock was savaged for wrongly claiming to have hit his target of 100,000 daily tests by the end of April.

The 24-hour target was set by Mr Johnson on 3 June, after Dido Harding, the head of the test-and-trace programme, was unable to say how quickly results are available – allowing contacts to be warned.

However, No 10 immediately admitted the target would not include the huge number of postal tests, or possibly those sent to care homes.

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