The Maharashtra government added another feather in the cap on Wednesday as the number of Covid-19 tests crossed the 20-lakh mark.
On March 9, when the first two Covid-19 cases were reported, there were just two labs - the National Institute of Virology, Pune and Kasturba Hospital, Mumbai. As on date, Maharashtra has 100 laboratories where samples are being tested.
The western state accounts for the lion's share of the positive coronavirus cases and deaths, however, it leads the board as far as the numbers of tests are concerned.
From the beginning of the crisis itself, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had asked the testing facilities to be increased manifold.
Accordingly, Public Health and Family Welfare Minister Rajesh Tope and Medical Education Minister Amit Deshmukh ensured that the number of test centres is scaled up.
According to data compiled by the government, the total tests conducted so far is 20,21,437. Of these, 10,21,062 are conducted in government labs, while 10,00,375 are conducted in private labs. Among the entire tests, 4,07,877 (20.18 percent) tests turned positive, while 16,13,437 (79.82 percent) tested negative.