Highest ever Covid-19 tests in a single day; still low, say experts

India has recorded less than 3 lakh new cases for five consecutive days now

India conducted 20.61 lakh tests for Covid-19 in a single day, the highest ever in a span of 24-hours, which experts feel is woefully low given the spread of the second wave of the infectious disease.

The Health Ministry said the daily positivity rate had declined to 12.59% on Friday morning from a high of 22% in the first week of May.

“In the last 24 hours, India has conducted the highest ever 20,61,683 tests with the cumulative tests being over 3,30,00,000,” Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said

He said daily recoveries continued to outnumber the daily new cases of Covid for the eighth consecutive day and 3,57,295 patients had recuperated in a span of 24 hours ending at 8:00 a.m. on Friday.

Also read: India sees 4,209 more Covid deaths, 2.59L new infections

However, health economist Rijo M John said the daily tests for Covid-19 were less compared to the number of infections reported during the second wave of the pandemic.

“Our daily cases quadrupled compared to the peak of wave 1 whereas our daily testing increased only 60% resulting in high test positivity rate and missing out on a lot of cases leading to more spread,” John said.

India also recorded less than three lakh new cases for five consecutive days.

Ten states – Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Assam – reported 76.66% of the 2,59,551 new cases registered in a day, the ministry said.

Tamil Nadu has reported the highest daily new cases at 35,579 followed by Kerala with 30,491 cases.

Also read: Karnataka to resume vaccination of 18-44 age group from Saturday

On the other hand, India's Covid-19 active caseload decreased to 30,27,925, with a net decline of 1,01,953 cases being recorded in the total active caseload.

The ministry said eight states – Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, cumulatively account for 69.47% of the country’s total active cases.

The death toll due to Covid-19 climbed to 2,91,331 with 4,209 daily deaths.

The 4,209 new fatalities include 984 from Maharashtra, 548 from Karnataka, 397 from Tamil Nadu, 236 from Uttar Pradesh, 233 from Delhi, 191 from Punjab, 162 from West Bengal, 159 from Uttarakhand, 129 from Haryana, 128 from Kerala, 127 from Rajasthan, 114 from Andhra Pradesh and 113 from Chhattisgarh.,

A total of 2,91,331 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 85,355 from Maharashtra, 23,854 from Karnataka, 22,579 from Delhi, 19,131 from Tamil Nadu, 18,588 from Uttar Pradesh, 13,895 from West Bengal, 12,716 from Punjab and 12,295 from Chhattisgarh.