COVID-19: India hits a milestone; conducts 7 lakh tests in a day, nearly 500 per minute

In a major boost for the country, a senior health ministry official has said that India has scaled the peak of COVID-19 testing with more than seven lakh tests in a single day, the country has conducted nearly 500 tests per minute in the last 24 hours. India has performed about 2,41,06,535 total tests so far.

According to the health ministry, the nation has been doing more than six lakh tests in a single day for the last several days. In the past 24 hours, India has done about 7,19,364 tests.

"Such high level of testing will also lead to a high number of daily positive cases, however, states have been advised to firmly focus on comprehensive tracking, prompt isolation, and effective treatment, following the Test, Track, Treat strategy. States reporting higher Case Fatality Rate (CFR) have been able to bring fatality rate below 1 per cent," said the official.

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Meanwhile, India reported single-day spike of 56,282 new COVID-19 cases and 904 deaths in the last 24 hours. The COVID tally of the country rises to 19,64,537 including 5,95,501 active cases, 13,28,337 cured/discharged/migrated & 40,699 deaths

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8 States/UTs Report 14% Of Deaths

On Saturday, the Union Health Ministry apprised that at least eight states and union territories are accounting for nearly 9% of India's active cases and additionally about 14 per cent of COVID-19 deaths, even higher than the national Case Fatality Rate (CFR) average. 

About 13 districts concentrated in 8 states & UTs reporting 9% of India's COVID-19 active cases and 14% of fatality, which is higher than the national Case Fatality Rate (CFR) average. Presently, the national CFR is 2.04%.

These active cases districts include- Kamrup Metro in Assam; Patna in Bihar; Ranchi in Jharkhand; Alappuzha & Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala; Ganjam in Odisha; Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh; 24 Paraganas North, Hooghly, Howrah, Kolkata & Maldah in West Bengal.

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READ: COVID-19: 8 states/UTs report 14% of deaths, higher than national average

(with inputs from ANI)