Some of India’s biggest states have abysmal testing numbers

India testing far less than other countries; UP, Bihar, Bengal, Odisha way below national average

nNEW DELHI: Kerala, which accounts for 3% of the country’s population, has carried out nearly 7,000 tests for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) while Uttar Pradesh, which has the highest number of people among any Indian state, has tested only 2,824 samples – numbers that indicate how some states are farther behind in getting a sense of the outbreak than others.

Data shows that populated states such as Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha have, as compared to Kerala, conducted fewer Covid-19 tests in absolute numbers as well as tests per million population -- a strong argument for relaxing the testing criteria that is largely responsible for the low numbers across the country.

Health officials in Kerala said that much more tests was a reason for the state, with population of 34.8 million, reporting highest number of Covid cases in the country. Kerala has conducted 6,690 tests, highest for any state in the country, and has also decided to conduct rapid tests.

Kerala has also put 151, 370, as on Sunday, under home and institutional quarantine. According to Kerala health department officials, after the first Covid-19 cases were detected in January, the government insisted on getting the tests conducted as regional virology institute in Alappuzha. From mid-february, tests started there and three more labs were operational by end of March, when most of the states had just one Covid-19 testing lab.

“Its contract-tracing and surveillance mechanisms are good. But we wish Kerala could have done more tests by now as some areas of the state have turned pandemic zones. It has to raise the number of tests immediately,” said Dr Rajgopal Kamath, science writer and researcher.

In comparison, India’s most populated state, Uttar Pradesh, with the population of 200 million, only 2,284 samples have been tested, of which 2,171 have been negative. There are eight testing labs in the state including King George’s Medical University (KGMU), LLRM Medical College in Meerut, Aligarh Muslim University in Aligarh and Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi.

The calculations for cases per million has been done with data from the 2011 Census.

Surya Kant, head of department of respiratory medicine, KGMU, said the number of tests done were less in UP as the numbers of travelers from foreign countries in the state were less as compared to Maharashtra and Kerala. “Many traveler who came via Mumbai and New Delhi airports, were first screened there. In the coming days, we will see increase in testing,” he said.

Dr PK Gupta former president IMA, Lucknow, said the government should focus more on identifying those with symptoms. “Selecting the correct per

TOTAL TESTS

TESTS PER MILLION 627 2,049 4,085 604 895 3,656 116 977 3170 84 6,690 588 2,456

Data shows that populated states such as Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha have, as compared to Kerala, conducted fewer Covid-19 tests in absolute numbers as well as tests per million population

352

196 416

2,430

120 616 19 370 481

TESTS CONDUCTED PER MILLION RESIDENTS

JAMMU & KASHMIR

HARYANA

DELHI

RAJASTHAN

MADHYA PRADESH

GUJARAT

MAHARASHTRA

CHANDIGARH

PUNJAB

KARNATAKA

KERALA

TAMIL NADU

LADAKH

South Korea Italy

Germany

United States United Kingdom Spain

China

Japan

3,95,194

4,54,030

4,83,295

3,20,000

HIMACHAL PRADESH

UTTARAKHAND

UTTAR PRADESH

SIKKIM

ARUNACHAL PRADESH

22

NAGALAND

66

MANIPUR

792

BIHAR

475

WEST BENGAL

196

JHARKHAND

ODISHA

CHHATTISGARH

ANDHRA PRADESH

Testing data not available: Andaman & Nicobar, Assam, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Lakshadweep, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Puducherry, Telangana, Tripura 7653.6 7513.2 5827.9