India has recorded a high of nearly 15 lakh COVID-19 tests in a single day, according to a release issued by the Health Ministry on Friday. “With 14,92,409 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, the cumulative tests have touched nearly 7 crore (6,89,28,440),’’ said the Ministry.
The surge in the daily testing capacities demonstrated the determined escalation of the testing infrastructure in the country. “The last one crore tests were conducted in merely 9 days. The Tests Per Million (TPM) stand at 49,948 as of today,’’ said the Ministry.
Evidence has revealed that higher numbers of testing subsequently led to lowered positivity rate. The States that were testing the highest numbers were also reporting a gradual decline in the positivity rate.
“With the expansion of testing infrastructure, the daily testing by States/UTs has also increased. Twenty-three States/UTs have better tests per million than the national average (49,948),’’ the Ministry said.
1,818 labs
The country now had 1,818 labs – 1,084 in the government sector and 734 private labs. These include Real-Time RT PCR based testing labs – 923, TrueNat based testing labs – 769 and CBNAAT based testing labs – 126.
“Testing forms an integral pillar of COVID-19 response and management. The Ministry has conveyed that the aim is to catch every missing person through testing to curb the spread of the infection. Several measures have been taken by the Central government through calibrated steps to widen the testing net and ensure easier and more accessible testing by all across the country. States/UTs have been instructed to ensure higher testing and directed that all symptomatic negatives of Rapid Antigen Tests are mandatorily subjected to RT-PCR,’’ the Ministry added.
