In its fight against COVID19 since January 2020, India crossed another peak and surpassed 4 crore tests on Saturday.
With focussed, consistent and coordinated efforts led by the Centre and implemented by the state/UT governments, India has set a new landmark of testing 4,04,06,609 people.
India has come a long way from conducting just one test from the lab in Pune in January 2020 to crossing 4 crore tests milestone.
“The single-day tests have also seen an upsurge. Already having achieved the testing capacity of 10 lakh tests per day, 9,28,761 tests conducted in the last 24 hours,” the Union health ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
This has boosted the tests per million (TPM) with a sharp increase to 29,280.
As is seen in many states/UTs that have increased the testing, the positivity rate will eventually fall with higher levels of testing.
The national positivity rate has remained low i.e. 8.57% and is constantly falling.
“India is following the strategic approach of TEST, TRACK, TREAT where testing forms the initial and crucial pillar of COVID response and management,” the health ministry stated.
It is only by aggressive testing that positive cases are identified at an early stage, their close contacts can be promptly tracked and isolated, and timely and effective treatment can be ensured for those in home isolation and the ones hospitalized, it added.
Expanded diagnostic lab network and facilitation for easy testing across the country through several policy measures have given a substantial boost to this upsurge in national testing rates.
There are as many as 1,576 labs in the country; 1,002 labs in the government sector and 574 private labs, the ministry informed.