India conducts record number of Covid-19 tests in 24 hours, recoveries near 21 lakh-mark

India on Thursday conducted a record number of Covid-19 tests, pushing the total tests conducted so far to 3.26 crore. In the last 24 hours, 9,18,470 people were tested, according to the Union health ministry.

“A record number of 9,18,470 Covid-19 tests conducted in a single day in the last 24 hours. Tests Per Million (TPM) continue to rise, standing at 23,668 today. India’s total recoveries reach nearly 21 lakh as the recovery rate rises to nearly 74 per cent,” the health ministry stated, adding that increased testing across the country has helped bring down the positivity rate.

The government aims to run 10 lakh tests a day in line with the objective of early identification and isolation of Covid-19 positive cases. The government’s strategy is to bring down the case fatality rate (CFR) through aggressive testing and efficient clinical treatment.

A continuous increase in average daily recoveries has led to India’s recovery rate -- the patients who have recovered as a proportion of those who tested positive -- touching 73.18 per cent, and the case fatality rate coming down to 1.92 per cent, shows health ministry data. About 30 states have CFR, deaths from the disease as a proportion of the case tally, below the national average.

India has 977 labs in the government sector and 517 private labs, taking the total number of labs to 1,494 labs today.

A record number of tests were conducted on a day when the country recorded its highest ever single-day spike with nearly 70,000 virus infections recorded on Thursday. Covid-19 caseload in the country has increased to 28,36,925 with 69,652 new infections and the death-toll has climbed to 53,866 with 977 new fatalities reported in the last 24 hours.