India's Covid-19 tally at 7.15 lakh; Over one crore tests conducted

The Health Ministry said the average rate of samples testing positive for the Covid-19 across the country was 6.73%

India on Monday crossed the grim landmark of seven-lakh Covid-19 cases with Odisha, Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar reporting new infections at a faster pace than the national average.

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The DH Covid-19 Tracker put the total confirmed case of the infectious disease at 7,14,937 at 8:30 p.m. on Monday, an intra-day increase of 17,524. On Monday morning, the Health Ministry had put India’s Covid-19 count at 6,97,413 – an increase of 24,248 over Sunday morning figures.

The death toll also crossed the 20,000-mark and had touched 20,115 at 8:30 p.m. on Monday.

India also crossed the landmark of one-crore tests for Covid-19 over the past five months through its network of 1,105 labs across the country. The laboratories tested 3,46,459 samples on Sunday which is the highest daily figure so far.

While old hotspots such as Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal have shown a declining trend in the spread of infection, states such as Odisha, Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are reporting cases at a rising speed.

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Odisha reported 456 new cases on Monday, Assam (736), Uttar Pradesh (929), and Bihar (276).

It said that with the help of effort undertaken by the central government, Delhi had witnessed a big jump in Covid-19 testing from 5,481 samples being tested daily between June 1-5 to 18,766 samples tested daily between July 1-5.

“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,” the health ministry said.

According to worldometers.info, India has been testing 7,224 samples per million population as against 1.13 lakh per million in the US and 15,667 per million in Brazil.

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The Indian Council of Medical Research made testing for Covid-19 testing easier by doing away with the need for a prescription from a government doctor to test samples in private laboratories.

In a letter to state governments on July 1, ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava and Health Secretary Preeti Sudan had said that state authorities must not restrict an individual from getting tested, as early testing will help in containing the virus and saving lives.