E-Paper
India crosses milestone of carrying out 400 million Covid-19 tests
To increase testing during the huge second wave of infections, ICMR had allowed increase in the number of less accurate but fast and cheap rapid antigen tests. Prior to that, the ICMR guidelines said that at least 70% of the tests should be conducted using the more accurate RT-PCR.
India on Friday crossed the milestone of conducting 400 million tests for Covid-19 since the pandemic began, with the last 50 million tests being conducted over the last 24 days, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The number of tests conducted per day started increasing in April and May when the cases of the viral infection were on the rise across the country.
In June, the country has been conducting around 1.8 million tests a day, even as the number of Covid-19 cases is dipping across states.
“This has been enabled by rapidly increasing testing infrastructure and capacity across the country. ICMR has been enhancing Covid-19 testing capability across the country by expanding and diversifying testing capacity by leveraging technology and facilitating innovation in affordable diagnostic kits,” the country’s apex health research body indicated.
To increase testing during the huge second wave of infections, ICMR had allowed increase in the number of less accurate but fast and cheap rapid antigen tests. Prior to that, the ICMR guidelines said that at least 70% of the tests should be conducted using the more accurate RT-PCR or other molecular diagnostic technologies.
The number of laboratories conducting Covid-19 tests across the country has increased to 2,675, of which 1,676 are run by Central or state governments. Efforts were also made to start high-throughput testing and testing in remotest areas using the TB diagnostic machines like TrueNAT and CBNAAT.
Recently, ICMR has also approved India’s first self-use Rapid Antigen Test. These self-test kits can help to reduce queues in laboratories, reduce costs, dissipate the burden on existing manpower for sample collection from homes, and provide results without delay.
“We have effectively responded to the evolving epidemic through focused and collaborative efforts of the Centre, state and union territory governments. Exponential increase in testing has led to early identification, prompt isolation & effective treatment of Covid-19 cases. These have eventually resulted in a sustained low fatality rate. This testing milestone is testimony to the fact that India has been successful in implementing strategy of 5T approach “Test, Track, Trace, Treat and use of Technology” efficiently, which will enable us to contain the spread of the pandemic,” said Dr Balaram Bhargava, director general, ICMR.
