Over 5 crore COVID-19 tests conducted till date

New Delhi, Sep 8: India's cumulative tests for detection of COVID-19 have surpassed five crore, while tests per million have witnessed a rise from 6,396 on July 1 to 36,703 as of date, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

Aggressive and widespread testing have essayed an important role in India''s fight against the COVID pandemic, the ministry said.

India has come a long way from conducting just one test at the lab in the National Institute of Virology, Pune in January to 5,06,50,128 as on date with 10,98,621 samples being tested in 24 hours testifying the enlarged testing capacity in the country.

"The average daily tests conducted (week-wise) are demonstrating a consistent increase. This has registered a 3.2 times expansion from third week of July (3,26,971) to first week of September (10,46,470)," the ministry said.

The average Tests Per Million Per Day have increased from 237 in the second week of July to 758 in the first week of September, it highlighted.

In its Guidance Note on "Public Health Criteria to Adjust Public Health and Social Measures in the Context of COVID-19", the WHO has advised countries to conduct 140 tests per day per million population for comprehensive surveillance for suspect cases.

The average week-on-week data for India shows a rising improvement on this front.

Expanding network of diagnostic labs has given a boost to Tests per Million.

"The TPM have seen a sharp rise from 6396 on July 1 to 36,703 as of today," the ministry said.

The testing lab network consists of 1668 labs in the country; 1035 labs in the government sector and 633 private labs.

India''s COVID-19 caseload mounted to 42,80,422 with a single-day spike of 75,809 infections, while the death toll climbed to 72,775 with record 1,133 new fatalities being reported in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed.