India’s COVID-19 testing crosses 9 crore-mark

India has crossed the 9-crore mark of COVID-19 testing across the country on Wednesday after 11,45,015 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health

India has crossed the 9-crore mark of COVID-19 testing across the country on Wednesday after 11,45,015 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The Ministry said, “With 11,45,015 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, the cumulative tests now stand at 9,00,90,122.”

The testing capacity has multiplied manifold with more than 1,900 labs across the country and now more than 15 lakh samples can be tested every day.

With 1,935 testing labs in the country including 1,112 government laboratories and 823 private laboratories, the daily testing capacity has got a substantial boost, stated an official statement.

The positivity rate is low in 20 states/UTs than the national average, which is at 8.04 per cent.

Currently, the active cases stand at 8,26,876 as of today and comprise only 11.42 per cent of the total positive cases of the country. Whereas, 74,632 COVID cases have recovered and discharged in the last 24 hours whereas the new confirmed cases stand at 63,509. A higher number of recoveries has aided the national Recovery Rate to further improve to 87.05 per cent.

With an increasing number of recoveries, this gap is continuously widening. The total recovered cases stand at 63,01,927. The gap between recovered cases and active cases is 54,75,051, stated the ministry.

It further said 79 per cent of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in 10 States/Union Territories like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Delhi.

Maharashtra continues to contribute the maximum with more than 15,000 single day recoveries. In the last 24 hours, 63,509 new confirmed cases were recorded.

A major share of new cases is from 10 states and UTs. Kerala has outnumbered Maharashtra with the highest number of newly reported cases.

The top three contributing states — Kerala, Maharashtra and Karnataka reported more than 8,000 cases followed by Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, both contributing more than 4,000 cases each. Case fatalities stood at 730 in the last 24 hours. Of these, nearly 80 per cent are concentrated in 10 states/UT.

More than 25 per cent of new fatalities reported are from Maharashtra.

Almost all states/UTs of the country are affected by COVID-19. Given the seasonal pattern of epidemic-prone diseases observed every year in our country like Dengue, Malaria, Seasonal Influenza, Leptospirosis, Chikungunya and Enteric fever, can not only present as a diagnostic dilemma but may co-exist in COVID cases. This poses a challenge in clinical and laboratory diagnosis of COVID and has a bearing on the clinical management and patient outcomes.

Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has issued Guidelines for management of co-infection of COVID-19 with other seasonal epidemic prone diseases. (ANI)

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