India for the first time conducted more than 12 lakh COVID19 tests in a single day.
“With 12,06,806 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, the cumulative tests have crossed 6.36 crore (6,36,61,060),” the Union health ministry said on Sunday.
This strongly demonstrates an exponential increase COVID19 testing infrastructure in the country. The country’s testing capacities have multiplied manifold.
“From conducting merely 10,000 tests per day on April 8, the daily average has crossed 12 lakhs today,” said a statement issued by the ministry, adding, “The last one crore tests were conducted in merely 9 days.”
Higher testing leads to early identification of positive cases, and timely & effective treatment. This eventually leads to lower mortality rate, the ministry claimed.
“As evidence has revealed, higher numbers of testing also subsequently result in lowered positivity rate. The sharp decline in daily positivity rate has demonstrated that the rate of spread of infection is being contained,” the statement said.
India’s daily testing numbers are one of the highest in the world.
The Centre’s policies in context of COVID 19 are continuously evolving. Following on the heels of several measures to facilitate wider testing by the people, recently the Union Government has provided for the first time ‘Testing on Demand”.
The states/UTs have also been given wider flexibilities to simplify modalities to enable higher levels of testing.
The Union government has also allowed COVID19 to be done on the prescription of any registered practitioner, and not exclusively a government doctor.
The Centre has advised the states/UTs to take immediate steps to facilitate testing at the earliest by enabling all qualified medical practitioners, including private practitioners, to prescribe COVID test to any individual fulfilling the criteria for testing as per ICMR guidelines.