by Peerzada Arshad Hamid
NEW DELHI, Oct 15 (NNN-XINHUA) – India’s federal health ministry said, there is an unprecedented upsurge in COVID-19 testing, as the number of tests has crossed the 90-million mark.
“India demonstrated an exponential increase in the number of COVID-19 tests since Jan, 2020,” a statement issued by India’s federal health ministry said, with a total of over 90 million tests until yesterday.
“With 1,145,015 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, the cumulative tests now stand at 90,090,122.”
India’s testing capacities have multiplied manifold, with more than 1,900 laboratories set up across the country. Health officials said, more than 1.5 million samples can be tested every day in India.
Officials see it as an achievement in the fight against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, since Jan, 2020. “Progressive expansion in testing infrastructure played a crucial role in the steep rise of testing numbers,” the ministry said.
Health officials said, very high countrywide testing on a sustained basis brought down the national positivity rate, an indication that the rate of spread of COVID-19 infection was being effectively contained.
The ministry said, 20 states have a positivity rate less than the national average. The cumulative positivity rate is 8.04 percent and is on a continuous decline.
“Higher testing across wide regions leads to early identification of positive cases, prompt tracking through efficient surveillance and tracing, and timely effective treatment in homes or facilities and in hospitals for severe cases. These measures in tandem eventually lead to lower mortality rates,” the ministry said.
Officials said, India is registering new recoveries more than new cases in recent days. As a result, active cases are steadily declining and stand at 826,876 yesterday and comprise only 11.42 percent of total cases.
“74,632 cases have recovered and discharged in the last 24 hours. A higher number of recoveries has aided the national recovery rate to further improve to 87.05 percent,” the ministry said.
The total recovered cases stand at 6,301,927. The gap between recovered cases and active cases is 5,475,051. With an increasing number of recoveries, this gap is continuously widening.
Yesterday morning, 63,509 new cases and 730 related deaths were recorded in the country, during the past 24 hours, which has pushed the country’s COVID-19 tally to 7,239,389 including 110,586 deaths.
Globally India is the third worst-hit country, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.– NNN-XINHUA
