More than 1.8m people have now been tested for coronavirus in the UK.

The Government met its target to conduct at least 100,000 coronavirus tests a day after a frantic push, but has only hit that target on six of the 17 days since.

The Health Secretary said 122,347 tests for Covid-19 were achieved on the final day of April.

However, the announcement swiftly attracted controversy as it emerged the tally includes swab kits sent to private homes and satellite testing sites not yet delivered to a laboratory for a result.

But the effort to 'ramp up' testing may have come too late, as the UK appears to have passed the initial peak and the death rate continues to climb.

Germany, which is considered to be one of the best-prepared countries in tackling the crisis, has conducted far more tests than any other country in Europe and has a death toll of around 8,003, less than a quarter of the UK's total.

It comes after the World Health Organisation (WHO) insisted that members who are battling the virus have to scale up their response to the crisis.

'Ramping up' testing

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has previously criticised countries which have not tested enough, telling them: "you cannot fight a fire blindfolded... test, test, test".

Despite the capacity for 40,000 tests a day in the UK, only around half that number were being used until a rapid ramp up.

According to the latest figures released by the Department of Health, more than 2.6m tests have now been completed.