For the 4th successive day, India tests more than 6 lakh samples in 24 hours

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Delhi, 07 Aug 2020: In a testament to the consistent and coordinated efforts of the Centre and the State/UT governments, India continues its track record of testing more than 6 lakh COVID-19 samples each day for the fourth successive day. Expanded diagnostic lab network and facilitation for easy testing across the country have given a boost, and with 6,39,042 tests conducted in last 24 hours, India has done 2,27,88,393 tests presently. The Tests Per Million (TPM) has seen a sharp increase to 16513.

The 7 day moving average in daily tests conducted has significantly improved from around 2.69 lakh on 14^th July 2020 to around 5.66 lakh on 6^th August 2020.

While the cumulative testing rose from 1.2 crore on 14th July 2020 to 2.2 crore on 6th August 2020, the positivity rate has seen a rise from 7.5% to 8.87% in the same period. Although higher number of tests will push the positivity rate initially, but as the Delhi experience has amply shown, it will eventually lower when combined with other measures such as prompt isolation, tracking and timely clinical management.

The graded and evolving response has resulted in a testing strategy that steadily widened the testing net in the country. To keep up with this strategy, the testing lab network in the country is continuously strengthened which as on today consists of 1383 labs in the country; 931 labs in the government sector and 452 private labs. These include:

• Real-Time RT PCR based testing labs: 701 (Govt: 423 + Private: 278)

• TrueNat based testing labs: 573 (Govt: 476 + Private: 97)

• CBNAAT based testing labs: 109 (Govt: 32 + Private: 77)