This evening, the government announced that their self-imposed target of 100,000 Covid-19 tests per day has been met. There are stories abound that the government has changed the way it counts its tests, and now includes home tests posted but not yet used in their overall figure.

Regardless of the precise figure, hitting 100,000 tests a day is not a strategy and NHS Providers have labelled it a “red herring”. We need to know that the government is putting in place adequate plans for a wider test, trace and isolate strategy, instead of solely focusing on arbitrary targets.

The government’s announcement earlier this week that all care home staff and residents can be tested for Covid-19 was welcome, but in speaking with care homes in my constituency, they tell me that accessing tests is not as straightforward in reality. Care home managers tell me that they are struggling to book tests for their staff, often spending hours on the phone struggling to book tests for their staff, precious time that could have spent caring for vulnerable residents.

The impact of Covid-19 on care homes was laid bare this week with the release of ONS figures revealing that over 4,300 deaths, that's nearly a quarter of all recorded coronavirus deaths in England and Wales, were in care homes over a fortnight. These latest figures come weeks after I raised my serious concerns with the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, on the inadequate government guidance produced for care home staff dealing with Covid-19 patients, which you can read by clicking the link below.