100k samples tested for second straight day

NEW DELHI: Over 100,000 samples were tested for Covid-19 in India on a second consecutive day (101,475) on Tuesday and took the total number of tests to more than 2.4 million in about four months, officials aware of the matter said. On Monday, a record 108,233 samples were tested, more than the target of 100,000 samples daily that the Union health ministry has set. “The testing capacity has been strengthened significantly in the past couple of months, and we already hit a record in a single day by testing more than a lakh [100,000] samples. The cumulative samples that have been tested so far are also inching closer to 25 lakh [2.5 million], which is huge. Our testing capacity is adequate,” said an official on condition of anonymity.

The WHO has called on all countries to ramp up their testing as best way to slow the advance of the pandemic. “We have a simple message to all countries - test, test, test,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in March.

The ICMR has approved 385 government and 158 private laboratories for testing.

In a statement on Tuesday, Union health ministry said through 14 All India Institute of Medical Sciences-like mentor institutions, handholding of labs across the country has been undertaken to ensure adequate bio-safety standards and accreditation of the laboratories. “To maintain a steady supply of testing material to the labs, 15 depots have been created by roping in India Posts and private agencies for distribution. Many Indian companies have been supported to undertake the production of testing material which was earlier primarily sourced from abroad. This has helped in maintaining steady supplies across the country,” it said.

ICMR has been revising guidelines for Covid-19 testing. On Monday, a directive widened the testing strategy to include frontline workers involved in containment and mitigation of Covid-19, all hospitalised patients, who develop influenza-like illness (lLl) symptoms, and all symptomatic ILI among returnees from abroad and migrants within seven days of onset of symptoms.