The number of new COVID-19 cases as well as recoveries in India over the past 24 hours crossed 94,000 on Sunday. A total of 92,605 new cases were recorded while the number of recoveries in the same period was 94,612.
Coronavirus | September 20 updates
1,133 deaths were registered in the past 24 hours with 37% (425) reported on Saturday coming from Maharashtra. Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh followed with 114 and 84 deaths, respectively.
Increase testing: Govt.
As cases continued to rise, the Health Ministry has advised States/UTs to take immediate steps to facilitate testing at the earliest by enabling all qualified medical practitioners, including private practitioners, to prescribe a COVID test to any individual fulfilling ICMR criteria for testing.
“Higher testing forms an integral part of chasing the virus strategy which aims to catch every missing person to curb spread of the infection,”the Ministry said in a release on Sunday. “States have been advised that all symptomatic negatives of Rapid Antigen Tests are mandatorily subjected to RT-PCR. Expanded diagnostic lab network and facilitation for easy testing across the country have given a sharp boost to the enhanced testing numbers. The Tests Per Million (TPM) have been boosted to 46,131,”
Interactive map of confirmed coronavirus cases in India
Record tests
For the first time a record number of more than 12 lakh COVID tests have been conducted in a single day, added the Health Ministry.
“With 12,06,806 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, the cumulative tests have crossed 6.36 crore (6,36,61,060). From conducting merely 10,000 tests per day on 8th April, the daily average has crossed 12 lakhs today. The last one crore tests were conducted in 9 days,” said the Ministry.
It added that higher testing leads to early identification of positive cases, and timely and effective treatment. This eventually leads to a lower mortality rate.
State-wise tracker for coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates
“As evidence has revealed, higher numbers of testing also subsequently result in a lowered positivity rate. The sharp decline in daily positivity rate has demonstrated that the rate of spread of infection is being contained. India’s daily testing numbers are one of the highest in the world,” the Ministry claimed.
From five States
Meanwhile the country reported more than 94,000 recoveries for two successive days, Health Ministry data said. “94,612 recoveries have been registered in the last 24 hours in the country. With this, the total number of recoveries has crossed 43 lakh (43,03,043),” said the release.
State Helpline numbers for COVID-19
60% of the new recoveries are being reported from five States — Maharashtra, Karnataka Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Maharashtra continues to lead with more than 23,000 new cases of recovered patients. Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh both have contributed more than 10,000 to the single day recoveries, the release said.
The Ministry added that a total of 92,605 new cases have been reported in the last 24 hours in the country. More than half, 52%, of the new cases are concentrated in same five States. More than 20,000 (22.16%) new cases were reported from Maharashtra, while Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka registered more than 8,000 fresh cases, according to the Ministry.
