Citing Centre's advice, Fadnavis urges MVA govt to utilise full COVID testing capacity

BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis wrote to Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday urging for the full COVID-19 testing capacity in the state to be utilised. He stressed that testing was the only way in which the novel coronavirus crisis can be addressed. Referring to Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan's letter dated July 1, he mentioned that the states had been advised to increase their testing on a massive scale. Thereafter, Fadnavis elaborated on the low level of COVID-19 testing in Mumbai. Observing that 1,32,245 COVID-19 tests were conducted in June-i.e 4408 tests daily, the former Maharashtra CM highlighted that the novel coronavirus positivity rate in Mumbai stands at 28%.

In the letter, he also pointed out how the testing across the state was reduced on the days after a huge surge in COVID-19 cases was reported. According to him, this might help reduce the novel coronavirus figures, but can lead to the further spread of the virus. Additionally, Fadnavis critiqued the system of declaring deaths from the previous period every day. He called on the administration to complete the death reconciliation process at the earliest and demanded the declaration of the COVID-19 deaths which took place outside the hospitals. The BJP leader contended that a proper system was of utmost importance considering that the novel coronavirus cases in Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan-Dombivali, Mira-Bhayandar, Bhiwandi, Panvel and Navi Mumbai grew by 94%, 166%, 461%, 413%, 1470%, 364%, and 190% respectively in June. So far, 1,86,626 COVID-19 cases and 8178 deaths have been reported in the state. 

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COVID-19 crisis in India

Currently, there are 6,04,641 confirmed novel coronavirus cases in India out of which 3,59,860 patients have been discharged while 17,834 fatalities have been reported. With 11,881 patients recovering from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, India's recovery rate soared to 59.52%. There are 2,26,947 active COVID-19 cases in the country. 

The Ministry of Health stated that the testing facilities across the country had been significantly ramped up with a total of 1065 diagnostic labs. This includes 768 labs in the government sector and 297 labs in the private sector. 2,29,588 tests out of the overall 90,56,173 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours.

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