At least 100,000 coronavirus tests will be carried out daily by the end of April under a new Government target unveiled by Matt Hancock this afternoon.

Setting out a five-point plan this afternoon, the Health Secretary said that the goal extended to ensuring that every NHS worker in need of a test would be able to receive one in “the coming weeks”.

He also insisted that the Government would continue to push for 250,000 tests per day, as originally set out by the Prime Minister.

The shift in strategy will see the Government bring the private sector, universities and independent laboratories more into the fold, following criticism that the current approach is over-centralised and bureaucratic.

The target will be based on the “five pillars” contained in Mr Hancock’s plan and will include standard and antibody tests.

However, the former will be the primary focus of the Government’s new strategy, as it will enable doctors and nurses who test negative for the virus to return to the frontline.

While the Government is currently assessing a number of antibody tests, which determined whether you have had coronavirus, Mr Hancock said he would not be pressured into rushing through approvals, citing examples where they had proven to be inaccurate.

Speaking publicly for the first time since contracting coronavirus, Mr Hancock said he had come back "redoubled in my determination to fight this virus with everything I've got.”

"And we will strain every sinew to defeat it once and for all,” he told the Downing Street press conference.

The five-point plan is as follows: