India ramps up coronavirus testing to one lakh samples per day

India has ramped up its Covid-19 testing capacity and is in a position to test one lakh samples every day through its network of state-run and private laboratories.

Health Minister Harshvardhan, during a video conference with Punjab Health Minister B S Sidhu, said India had tested 18.54 lakh samples for Covid-19 as on Wednesday morning and had achieved the capacity to test one lakh samples every day.

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On Tuesday, India had tested 94,708 samples in a single day through its network of 352 state-run and 140 private laboratories.

Harshvardhan’s remarks came on a day confirmed Covid-19 cases shot up by 3,525 to 74,281 on Wednesday morning and death toll touched 2,415, an increase of 122 in a single day. A DH Covid-19 Tracker put the confirmed cases at 75,684 and the death toll at 2,445 at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

In Punjab, of the 1,914 confirmed Covid-19 cases, 1,225 are persons who returned from Nanded Huzoor Sahib gurdwara in Maharashtra. A total of 4,216 persons had returned from the town in Maharashtra.

Harshvardhan asked the state government to keep up the vigil on 20,521 migrant workers returning to the state.

Across the country, in the past 14 days, the number of cases have doubled every 11 days, and improved to 12.6 in the past three days. The fatality rate is 3.2%, and recovery rate 32.8%, which is better than the many other Covid-19-hit countries. The global fatality rate is around 7-7.5%.

As of Tuesday, 2.75% of active Covid-19 patients were undergoing treatment in intensive care units (ICUs), 0.37% patients were critical and on ventilators, and 1.89% were on oxygen support.

The minister said nine states/UTs – Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Goa, Chhattisgarh, Ladakh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram – have not reported any cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours. Also, Daman and Diu, Sikkim, Nagaland and Lakshadweep have not reported any cases till date.