Don’t believe it: apparently the BBC has not been told the Tories have rigged the rules because that was the only way they could pretend to meet their target. It will include tests the government has sent – or even only promised to send.

Once again, it seems the Conservative government has cheated in order to claim a victory in its handling of the coronavirus.

The BBC might say the Tories will have reached their target of 100,000 tests per day by the end of April, but it seems they had to change their own rules to do it.

So for April 30, the number of tests counted will include those that have been sent off but not carried out, and those that the government has only agreed to mail out. These may cover as many as half the tests counted.

Here is the evidence from the Health Service Journal:

Previously, a test would be counted once the sample had been processed in laboratories. But this definition has been changed in the last few days, a senior source told HSJ.

The Department of Health and Social Care is now including tests that have been posted or delivered to people’s homes in its figures. This means tests which are sent to people are counted before the recipient has provided and returned their sample to a laboratory.

HSJ understands that up to 50,000 of the tests that will be reported as having taken place on 30 April will actually represent the mailing or the agreeing to mail a home testing kit.

The source told HSJ that work to achieve the 100,000 tests per day had been “manic” and that the health and social care secretary Matt Hancock was “obsessed” with reaching the target. “They are trying every trick in the book,” the source said.

“They had to get the permanent secretary at DHSC (Chris Wormald) to agree to a change in the counting process.

“We’re now counting a home test as tests which have been sent to people’s homes.”

So it seems the Tories have failed yet again. They haven’t reached the target of 100,000 tests carried out per day.

Let’s see if they lie about it in the daily briefing…

And will their supine right-wing mass media let them off?

Source: Revealed: How government changed the rules to hit 100,000 tests target | News | Health Service Journal

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