India has achieved a significant milestone as the number of Covid-19 tests conducted in the country so far has crossed the 1 crore milestone. This signifies the importance accorded to widespread testing and the focussed ‘Test, Trace, Treat’ strategy with several follow-up measures taken in tandem by the central and states governments.
During the 24 hours to Monday evening, 3,46,459 samples were tested, taking the cumulative number to 1,01,35,525.
This achievement has also been possible by the continuously expanding network of testing labs throughout the country. As on date, more than 1,105 labs have enabled people to undergo Covid tests – 788 labs in the government sector and 317 in the private sector, an official release said.
The various kinds of tests for Covid-19 and the labs providing these are as follows:
• Real-Time RT PCR based testing labs: 592 (Govt: 368 + Private: 224)
• TrueNat based testing labs: 421 (Govt: 387 + Private: 34)
• CBNAAT based testing labs: 92 (Govt: 33 + Private: 59)
Consistent and focussed efforts for containment and management of Covid-19 by the government have led to the number of recovered cases among Covid-19 patients rise to 4,24,432 as of Monday. During the 24 hours to Monday evening, a total of 15,350 Covid-19 patients were been cured.
There are 1,71,145 more recovered patients than Covid-19 active cases. This takes the national recovery rate amongst COVID-19 to 60.86%. There are 2,53,287 active cases and all are under active medical supervision.
Increased testing has resulted in reduced positivity in the country. Currently the national positivity rate stands at 6.73%.
As on Sunday, the states with their Positivity Rate lesser than the national average and tests per million higher than the national average are:
State / Positivity rate (in %) / Tests per million
1 India (National) 6.73 6,859
2 Puducherry 5.55 12,592
3 Chandigarh 4.36 9,090
4 Assam 2.84 9,987
5 Tripura 2.72 10,941
6 Karnataka 2.64 9,803
7 Rajasthan 2.51 10,445
8 Goa 2.5 44,129
9 Punjab 1.92 10,257
In Delhi, the efforts being made by the state government were significantly bolstered by the central government to ensure increase in testing. Tests were ramped up through increased RT-PCR testing along with the new Rapid Antigen Point-of-Care (POC) tests which gives results in only about 30 minutes.
The average number of samples being tested per day has gone up from 5,481 during June 1-5 to 18,766 samples during the first five days of the current month. In spite of significantly increased testing in Delhi, the positivity rate has seen a substantial decrease from about 30% to 10% in the last three weeks.