COVID-19: India conducts highest-ever 4.2 lakh tests in a single day

Guwahati: For the first time ever, a record number of more than 4,20,000 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in a single day in India.

This elevated number comes on the heels of 3,50,000 tests having been done very day consistently over the last week.

With 4,20,898 samples tested in the last 24 hours, the Tests Per Million (TPM) has further increased to 11,485 and cumulative testing to 1,58,49,068. Both continue to maintain an upward trend.

A strong factor contributing to this achievement is the persistent increase in the number of COVID-19 testing labs in the country.

From merely one in January 2020, the number of labs has risen to 1301 today, which is inclusive of 902 government labs and 399 in the private sector.

Revised facilitative guidelines of testing by ICMR and all-round efforts by the governments have also aided in widespread testing.

Meanwhile, the Union Government has advised all state and Union Territory governments to keep up the strategy of "test, track and treat" with aggressive testing which may lead to a higher number of daily positive cases initially but would eventually achieve a decline.

With effective and standardized clinical management protocols based on the holistic Standard of Care approach, the Case Fatality Rate continues on its downward trend which means that the collective efforts of the Centre and State/UT governments have resulted to keep a check on the mortality due to COVID-19.

It has significantly dipped to 2.35% today, and India has one of the lowest fatality rates in the world.

In a positive sign, as many as 32,223 COVID-19 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours. The cumulative number of recovered cases has reached 8,49,431 today. The recovery rate has achieved another high of 63.54%. The gap between recovered patients and active COVID-19 cases has further increased to 3,93,360.

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