India conducts record 4.2 lakh COVID-19 tests in a day; recovery rate improves to 63.54%

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Saturday that India conducted a record number of tests in a single day. The ministry stated that 4,20,898 samples were tested in the last 24 hours. India has been conducting around 3,50,000 tests every day over the last one day. The recovery rate has also improved to 63.54 per cent.

Tests per million (TPM) has increased to 11,485 and cumulative testing has increased to 1,58,49,068. The government said that both "continue to maintain the upward trend".

The ministry said that 32,223 COVID-19 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 8,49,431. "The recovery rate has achieved another high of 63.54%. The gap between recovered patients and active COVID-19 cases has further increased to 3,93,360," stated the ministry.

The government credited the "persistent increase" in the number of labs. There was merely one lab in January, which has now increased to 1,301. Out of that 902 are government labs and 399 are private labs. "Revised facilitative guidelines of testing by ICMR and all-round efforts by the governments have also aided in widespread testing," stated the ministry.

The Centre has also urged all states and UTs to follow the strategy of 'test, track and treat'. It has also asked governments to test aggressively which might lead to higher numbers of positive cases but would eventually achieve a decline.

The fatality rate has also decreased to 2.35 per cent. "India has one of the lowest fatality rates in the world," said the ministry.

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