7.89 lakh COVID-19 tests conducted in Delhi, says official data

A total of 7.89 lakh coronavirus tests have been conducted in the national capital till Sunday, according to data by the Delhi government.

As many as 11,793 rapid antigen tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, while 9,443 RT-PCR tests were carried out during the same time, it said.

According to the data provided by the AAP government, Delhi has conducted a total of 7,89,853 tests, that is, 41,571 tests per million population.

Meanwhile, the number of containment zones in the city has risen to 652. Since June 18, when COVID-19 testing through the rapid-antigen method started, over 3 lakh tests have been conducted in Delhi - around 17,000 tests per day, it said.

Over 45 per cent of coronavirus tests were conducted here after the government commenced testing through the rapid-antigen methodology in and around containment zones of the city.

Over 2 lakh people have been tested through the antigen kits, according to the Delhi government's health bulletin.

The health authorities had conducted 3,21,302 tests for the disease using the "expensive but gold standard" RT-PCR method till June 18, it said.

The number of tests per day has also seen around four-fold increase from 4,190 tests per day in the first week of June to 15,863 tests per day in the last week of the month, the data said.

The Arvind Kejriwal government had last week expanded the rapid-antigen testing technique, earlier limited to containment zones, to other areas in all 11 districts. Now, state-run and private hospitals in the national capital have also begun testing for COVID-19 using this method following the government's nod. Earlier this week, the government had ordered that the Rapid Antigen Detection Test (RADT) will be offered by all its dispensaries and polyclinics between 9 am to 12 noon on all working days. This step was taken to augment COVID-19 testing and ensure its accessibility to all.

According to health authorities, rapid-antigen testing is an easy and cheaper method as compared to the real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test. Each rapid-antigen testing kit costs Rs 450 and can provide results within 30 minutes as compared to RT-PCR test that takes three to four hours, they said.