It has been four weeks since Health Secretary Matt Hancock pledged to ramp up daily coronavirus testing from about 10,500 to 100,000 by the end of April. By Tuesday, just over half that number were being carried out and yesterday a cabinet colleague said the target would probably be missed. Now, however, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps believes the government is "quite likely to get very close to or meet" the 100,000 figure. "The point is to have available tests," he told the BBC's Question Time.

He was speaking after Boris Johnson, in his first Downing Street briefing since recovering from Covid-19, said the country was "past the peak of this disease". The prime minister said he would set out a "road map" out of lockdown but that it was "vital" to avoid a second peak and the resulting economic damage. The key is keeping the virus's reproduction rate - explained here - below one, meaning that for every person who has the virus, it's not passed on to one more, the government says.

A report by food bank charities points to an alarming rise in the number of people in need of essential supplies. We hear from one family forced to give up jobs on zero-hours contracts about relying on universal credit payments and struggling to find anywhere that will accept government food vouchers. "We have gone without meals so the children can eat," said Amie Smith. "It isn't nice when you are feeling hungry and you open the cupboard and there is nothing in there for you."

A 26-year-old woman identified as at high-risk because of a brain tumour tells us she's trying to stay positive, despite the challenges of staying in a small flat, away from her boyfriend and family, for 12 weeks. "I don't have a washing machine... suddenly I'm faced with the fact I have to wash things in my bathtub," she says.
Dr Nigel Kennea talks about his work supporting bereaved families at a London hospital. "The most harrowing thing is knowing that many said goodbye to their loved ones in an ambulance," he says. Then there are the parents with children who - unlike most youngsters - have been hospitalised with Covid-19. Two mothers - one at home, one abroad - tell us how they coped.

There have been plenty of comments from US President Donald Trump that coronavirus could have originated in a Chinese laboratory and last night, in answer to a reporter's question, he suggested he had seen evidence to back up the claim. When pressed as to the proof, he replied: "I'm not allowed to tell you that." However, hours earlier, the US national intelligence director's office had said it was still investigating how the outbreak began. I t had determined Covid-19 "was not manmade or genetically modified".
Meanwhile, a senior US intelligence official tells the BBC there is evidence foreign agencies are spying on those researching a coronavirus vaccine. Washington has warned medical research organisations of the risks but the source would not say whether there had been confirmed cases of cyber-spies stealing data. UK security sources also report similar activity, says our security correspondent Gordon Corera.

Is China a victim of Covid-19 or the source of the problem? For HARDtalk, on the World Service, Stephen Sackur asks the veteran Chinese Ambassador in London, Liu Xiaoming, whether the Chinese government’s impulse to cover up the truth cost the world dearly. And the Coronavirus Newscast team hears from pub owners about how social distancing measures could affect the future of their industry.

An image of a rainbow adorns the Daily Mirror's front page, above the headline: "We're past the peak." The Times also leads on Boris Johnson's declaration on the UK's coronavirus outbreak, during his first Downing Street briefing since recovering from Covid-19. "At last," is the Daily Express's verdict. The prime minister pledged to next week reveal a "road map" showing a route out of lockdown, notes the Daily Telegraph, while the i says telling the public to wear face masks away from homes will be among the conditions. Like many front pages, the Metro's features NHS fundraiser "Captain Tom" Moore - newly made an honorary colonel - celebrating his 100th birthday. The Guardian and Sun say Victoria Beckham has reversed a bid to claim public money to furlough staff at her fashion label, while the Daily Mail says its new charity has delivered protective kit to care home staff. Read the full review.

From elsewhere

Fed up of being indoors? Whisk yourself away to Nordic islands via the lens of Stefan Forster. His selection of photographs from some of his dozens of trips to Greenland, Iceland, Norway and the Faroe Islands make for a stunning picture gallery. If you're missing the cinema, read our interview with Australian film-maker Kitty Green about The Assistant, which has roots in the exposure of power and abuse in the film industry after #MeToo. And, as it's Friday, there's a fresh quiz of the week's news to test your knowledge of the last seven days. However, if what you really need is to see a video of a talking dog, delve into the BBC Archive to meet a poodle who showed off his four-word vocabulary to the nation on this day in 1983.