INDIA. New Delhi. The Indian government has been committed to ramping up COVID-19 testing across the nation. To fight this global pandemic, more than 10 million samples for COVID-19 testing are being taken and tested. This makes India cross the 1 crore milestone in July 2020. In the wake of an upsurge in positive cases, Indian Centre for Medical Research (ICMR) is aggressively expanding its testing network. Earlier this year in February the testing network was limited to 13 labs which is now expanded to over 1100 testing labs.
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Improved recovery rate. The recovered cases have exceeded the currently active cases of COVID-19 by around 1.5 lakhs. There is a huge improvement registered in the national recovery rate which has increased to more than 60%. Despite this, it is notable that India has surpassed Russia and ranked third on the list of countries worst hit by coronavirus. According to the latest figures, India crossed the 7-lakh mark on Monday.
ICMR has been emphasizing on how India is keeping ahead of this global threat with its efficient testing strategy for COVID-19. The medical research body holds the power to approve the testing labs. Its current capability of performing more than 3 lakh tests per day indicates it’s focused on extensive testing.
With more than 1.7 lakh recovered patients, India’s recovery rate for COVID-19 is close to 61 % which is a positive sign for the nation.
‘Triple T’ strategy. Keeping a close check on the changing trend of coronavirus cases, India is constantly upgrading its testing capacities and revising its testing strategy for COVID-19. Amitabh Kant, CEO of the government’s policy think tank, Niti Aayog, also highlighted the need to increase the testing network. Kant also mentioned that India can fight this battle against COVID-19 through the ‘Triple T’ strategy -Testing followed by Tracing and Treating.
Regarding India’s active push on developing the first COVID vaccine, The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has set a launch deadline of 15 Aug for COVID-19 Vaccine ‘Covaxin’, after receiving backlash from the scientific community and concerns over the timelines of trial phases.
