India administers lowest number of Covid-19 tests in a month

India conducted the lowest number of daily Covid-19 tests since mid-August on Sunday, but the health ministry urged local governments not to let their guard down during the September to November festival season.

States and Union Territories carried out about 11.8 lakh tests on Sunday, government data showed on Monday, down from about 15.6 lakh on Saturday and against a capacity of more than 20 lakh.

It comes as most states dropped compulsory testing for fully vaccinated travellers in recent weeks, as they try to boost their economies by making it easier for people to commute.

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New Covid-19 infections meanwhile have plateaued at around 30,000 a day as vaccinations surged but some health experts say this could also been down to reduced testing.

The health ministry urged states and Union Territories on Saturday to step up testing, warning that the festival season could lead to another spike in infections. Local governments are responsible for local-level health policies in the country, as per the Indian constitution.

After a meeting with state officials on Saturday, the health ministry said that there was "no room for any complacency" and that local authorities should urgently augment hospital infrastructure, oxygen supply, ambulance services and build up buffer stocks of critical drugs.

India faced the world's worst explosion of Covid-19 cases and deaths between April and May when its hospitals ran out of beds, oxygen and drugs. Overall, it has reported the most number of infections after the United States.

Some 64 per cent of India's adult population has received at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose and 22 per cent two doses.

The health ministry aims to have administered at least one vaccine dose in nearly all of India's adult population by next month. So far, at least one dose has been given to about 60 crore adults.

On Monday, India reported 30,256 new Covid-19 infections and 295 deaths, taking the total caseload to 3.348 crore and death toll to 445,133.