UK government has failed to complete 100,000 daily coronavirus tests for the fifth day in a row, with 86,583 tests carried out on Wednesday and 69,463 on Tuesday.

The last time that threshold was reached was Friday, when 105,937 tests were completed, according to the Department of Health and Social Care data.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday set a new target of 200,000 daily Covid-19 tests by the end of May, after meeting the initial challenge of 100,000 by April 30, but his spokesperson added that it only covered testing capacity “across all of the different testing pillars,” according to PA.

Overall, 1,534,533 tests were carried out across the UK, 206,715 people have tested positive which is an increase of 5,614 since the day before, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Thursday.

Background: UK is the second worst-hit country in the world in terms of deaths, behind the US. So far 30,615 people have died with coronavirus in UK, according to Department of Health and Social Care data.