New Delhi: India has crossed the nine-million mark in conducting COVID-19 tests, with 90,56,173 samples having been examined till July 1, officials said Thursday. The officials of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) also said there are now 1,065 testing labs in India – 768 in the public sector and 297 in private. The daily testing capacity is also growing fast, ICMR officials said, adding it was around 1.5 lakh per day May 25 and is more than three lakh per day now.
As many as 2,29,588 samples were tested Wednesday, which took the cumulative number to 90,56,173, the country’s apex health research body informed.
Starting with just one laboratory, the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune, and having 100 in the beginning of the lockdown, the ICMR validated its 1000th testing lab June 23, it said.
The Union Health Ministry, meanwhile, said the total number of people being tested for COVID-19 in the country will soon touch one crore.
“This has been (made) possible due to the removal of all bottlenecks by the government of India. Various steps taken by the Central government have paved the way for enhanced testing for COVID-19,” the Health Ministry said.
Also read: Over one million COVID-19 tests conducted in India, says ICMR
Through a significant step announced by the Central government Wednesday, COVID-19 testing can now be done on the prescription of any registered practitioner, and not exclusively of a government doctor.
The Centre has strongly advised states and Union Territories to take immediate steps to facilitate testing at the earliest by enabling all qualified medical practitioners, including private ones, to prescribe COVID-19 test to any individual fulfilling the criteria for testing as per ICMR guidelines.
Reiterating that ‘Test-Track-Treat’ is the key strategy for early detection and containment of the outbreak, the Centre has advised them to take all possible steps to ensure full capacity utilisation of all COVID-19 testing laboratories.