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Updating the nation on the coronavirus measures from Downing Street, the Health Secretary said “the military have been working wonders” in the construction of new emergency hospitals across the country. Mr Hancock, who came back on Thursday from seven days in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19, announced the new measure amid the harsh criticism received by the UK's Government over its response to the crisis so far.

He said: “I can announce that I’m writing off £13.4 billion of historic NHS debt. “This landmark step will not only put the NHS in a stronger position to be able to respond to this global coronavirus pandemic. “But it will ensure that our NHS has stronger foundation for the future too.” The Health Secretary said he had made £300 million available for community pharmacies and that he wanted to make sure "every part" of the health and care system is supported. Mr Hancock said he was "setting the goal" of reaching 100,000 tests for coronavirus per day by the end of April. READ MORE: Concerned Briton pleas for relatives trapped on coronavirus ships

Matt Hancock said the Government has taken 'the right steps at the right time' to combat coronavirus

A total of 2,921 patients have died in hospital after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Wednesday, the Department of Health said, up by 569 from 2,352 the day before. The Government had come under huge criticism over the failure to keep its promise to ramp up COVID-19 testing among NHS workers. Outgoing Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said it is "ludicrous" that so few health service staff and care workers have been tested for coronavirus. In an interview with Sky News, Mr Corbyn also said that if he had been elected as prime minister, he hopes that the UK would have recognised the serious of the virus sooner. Asked how he would have handled the situation, said: "I hope we'd have started onto it more quickly and recognised the seriousness of it from the World Health Organisation warnings that were sent out in January from China and recognised that the only way you can get on top of it is by knowing how severe it is and that means testing.

Matt Hancock announced NHS debt of £13.4 will be written off

Share your lockdown experience with Express.co.uk We would love to hear how you are coping with the coronavirus lockdown. Please send a video update detailing your experiences to webvideo@express.co.uk and we will feature the best ones. Clips should be between .30secs - 1min30 long and can be filmed using a phone, tablet or desktop. LEGAL By sending a clip you consent to us using your video in perpetuity on Express.co.uk and our social platforms. "The fact that we are not yet even testing 10,000 people a day is very, very serious indeed. "There are almost half a million (frontline) people working in the NHS and the care sector. Even they have not yet been tested. It is ludicrous. We have got to get on top of testing." He continued: "It has obviously been a very fast-moving crisis, we do have to bring it under control. "Testing is a very, very important way of it, but also the superhuman efforts of people throughout the NHS to free up beds, to bring staff back, to bring retired staff back and now to open three new hospitals is wonderful and we should applaud them. "But we shouldn't have had 10 years of austerity when we ended up with 94% bed occupancy in the NHS and obviously a difficulty in coping because of that." BACK BRITAIN'S BRAVE NHS HEROES - CLICK HERE NOW

Mr Corbyn also admitted that he was irritated by Boris Johnson's comments that the Government's ambition is to ramp up testing, despite the reality being different on the ground. He said: "It irritates me a great deal when nearly three weeks ago Jon Ashworth (shadow health secretary) and I met him to raise these very points." Asked what the Prime Minister had told him three weeks ago, the Labour leader said: "He (Mr Johnson) said that at that time, they were testing at 5,000 a day and it was going to increase as quickly as possible. "Here we are now all these weeks we're not even yet reaching 10,000 a day and it's apparently because there's a shortage of testing equipment because the NHS was not able to purchase it when it needed to because they seemed to be running on the idea that it wasn't necessary to test. "It is absolutely... how can you possibly have an idea of how many people have CV (coronavirus) unless you test?" DON'T MISS:

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