New Delhi: India has carried out over two crore tests for detection of COVID-19 pursuant to the key strategy of “test aggressively, track efficiently and isolate and treat promptly”, the government said on Monday, hailing the milestone as a “landmark achievement”.
A cumulative total of 2,02,02,858 samples have been tested up to August 2 with 3,81,027 samples being tested on Sunday, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) data.
With 3,81,027 samples tested in the last 24 hours, the number of Test Per Million (TPM) has increased to 14,640, the health ministry said in a statement.
While the country’s TPM has demonstrated a steady upward trend indicating the growing testing network, 24 states and Union Territories have reported higher testing per million than the national average.
The 24 states and UTs having a TPM higher than the national average includes Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka and Punjab.
“In a landmark achievement, India has tested 2,02,02,858 COVID-19 samples so far. This is pursuant to the key strategy followed by State/UT governments under the guidance of Centre for management of COVID-19 to ‘test aggressively, track efficiently and isolate and treat promptly’,” the ministry said.
The testing lab network in the country is continuously strengthened with 1,348 labs in the country — 914 labs in the government sector and 434 private labs.
Having started with one single laboratory at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune and then expanding to 100 laboratories around the beginning of the lockdown, the ICMR on June 23 validated the 1000th testing lab.
The total number of tests for detection of COVID-19 had crossed the one-crore mark in India on July 6.
India’s COVID-19 tally crossed the 18-lakh mark on Monday, just a day after it went past 17 lakh, with 52,972 cases reported in a day while the number of recoveries surged to over 11.86 lakh, according to the Union Health Ministry data.
The total coronavirus cases surged to 18,03,695, while the death toll due to COVID-19 climbed to 38,135 with 771 people succumbing to the disease in a day, the data updated at 8 am on Monday showed.
Various steps taken by the central government have paved the way for enhanced testing for COVID-19, the health ministry had said earlier.