ICMR conducts over 5 million COVID-19 tests, to ramp up testing to 2 lakh samples per day

India's apex medical body India Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Tuesday said over five million RT-PCR tests for COVID-19 infection have been done in the country. A total of 5,030,700 samples have been tested till June 9 in the country with1,41,682 samples being tested in the last 24 hours till 9 AM, according to ICMR officials.

READ | India testing 1.2 lakh samples for COVID-19 daily, outreach has increased: ICMR

Testing capacity being increased to 2 lakh samples

"We have increased the testing capacity to 1.4 lakh per day. So far, we have 789 laboratories (553 government and 231 private labs). A total of 5,030,700 samples have been tested on June 6 evening," an ICMR official told ANI. The capacity is being further raised to 2 lakh samples per day, sources said.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India reported the biggest spike of 9,987 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours. The death toll for COVID-19 has risen to 7,466 and the total number of cases stands at 2,66,598.

Meanwhile, issuing a statement over media reports on the result of its serosurvey, the ICMR on Tuesday said that those reports are 'speculative' at this point in time. Taking to Twitter, ICMR clarified that survey results are yet to be finalised. 

READ | ICMR clarifies sero-survey reports of high infections are speculative; results not final

Media reports on Sero test

The ICMR clarified on reports that were published by some media houses quoting sources, stating that about one-third of India’s population inside various containment zones and hotspots may have been infected with the novel coronavirus and may have recovered. It further said that the findings have been shared with the Union Cabinet Secretary and the Prime Minister's office.

It also claimed that the infection rate is higher in cities such as Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Indore, where the infection rate is about 100 times more than other high-burden hotspots, reports said quoting sources.

ICMR's serosurvey recommendation

ICMR has advised states to conduct a serosurvey to measure the exposure of the coronavirus in the population. To conduct the serosurvey, the ICMR has developed IgG ELISA test and recommended states to use the specific antibody test kit.

Currently, the apex medical council is conducting serosurveys in several districts across India to assess the proportion of the population exposed to the virus including asymptomatic individuals.

READ | ICMR says indigenous ELISA kits 92.37% sensitive, 97.9% specific for COVID-19 testing

READ | Delhi govt issues notice to labs for defying ICMR guidelines; submitting Covid tests late

(With agency inputs)