New Delhi: Nearly five crore COVID-19 tests have been conducted till date with 7.2 lakh of them carried out in the last 24 hours. This information was given by the Health Ministry late Monday evening. The Health Ministry added that following the country-wide ramping up of testing for coronavirus, 1,33,33,904 tests were conducted in the last two weeks alone.
“India is one of the few countries that have reported very high numbers of daily testing. The daily testing capacity has crossed 11.70 lakh. India’s cumulative tests are nearly five crore (4,95,51,507) as on date. In the last 24 hours 7,20,362 tests were conducted,” the Health Ministry statement said.
The ministry further said the Centre’s policies are continuously evolving in the larger global context. Efforts are on to facilitate wider testing of people.
“Recently the government has issued the revised and updated advisory which provides for the first time ‘testing on demand. The states/UTs have also been given wider flexibilities to simplify modalities to enable higher levels of testing,” the ministry noted.
The daily testing average had been on a continuous upward incline. Seven lakh were tests being conducted per day in the third week of August. In September there were a number of days when 10 lakh tests were carried out.
“Higher testing enables early identification of confirmed cases. This in turn leads to timely initiation of effective treatment in supervised home/facility isolation or in hospitals. These measures aid faster and higher numbers of recovery, lower fatality and saving of more lives,” the ministry added.
India’s COVID-19 tally of cases went past 42 lakh Monday. A record 90,802 people were infected in a day, according to the Union Health Ministry data. The death toll climbed to 71,642 with 1,016 fatalities being reported in a span of 24 hours.
PIT