India performs 600,000 Covid tests on Sunday, lowest in 2 weeks

[Prem Kumar]

India performs 600,000 Covid tests on Sunday, lowest in 2 weeks

On Saturday, 801,147 tests were conducted across 1,515 Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-approved laboratories in the country.

India's daily day testing for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) dropped sharply on Sunday, as 609,917 tests were conducted.

The daily testing figure was around 200,000 less than that of the previous day.

Sunday's was the lowest test count since August 10, when 477,027 tests were conducted.

On Saturday, 801,147 tests were conducted across 1,515 Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-approved laboratories in the country.

Last Friday, India had achieved a milestone, when it had conducted a million tests.

On average, the country has been conducting 850,000 tests per day over the past week.

On August 1, 5,25,689 tests were conducted; on August 6 (6, 664,949); and on August 16 (746,608).

ICMR officials said during weekends the number of swab samples that arrive for testing is usually lower, but the rising average daily tests in the past three weeks are a pointer towards the progress being made in aggressive Covid-19 testing mechanism across the country.

"On weekends, the number of tests usually goes down a bit. There could be several reasons, including fewer swab samples being collected and reduced work shifts of laboratory technicians. This is more an aberration than a norm. It doesn't mean that the country's testing capacity has reduced. The daily testing count is only going to increase from here on," said an ICMR official requesting anonymity.

India, which had conducted its first Covid-19 test on January 23 at ICMR's National Institute of Virology in Pune, has conducted 3,590,213 tests to date.

Sources by : Hindustan Times