The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Thursday informed that over 75 lakh COVID-19 tests were conducted by various laboratories across the country till June 24. Moreover, 2,07,871 samples were tested in the last 24 hours. “75,60,782 samples tested till June 24. 2,07,871 samples tested in the last 24 hours,” the ICMR said. In an effort to ramp up testing capacity, the ICMR has approved a total of 1,000 COVID-19 testing labs in both public (730) and private sector (270). This includes RT-PCR labs (557); TrueNat Labs (363) and CBNAAT Labs (80). The latest advisory of ICMR on COVID-19 strategies advises all concerned state governments, public and private institutions to take required steps to scale-up testing for COVID19. The ICMR had also recommended all laboratories and hospitals initiating testing through the rapid antigen test need to ensure that all symptomatic negative patients should be essentially referred to a real-time RT-PCR test for COVID19. The data of individuals tested by RT-PCR will need to be entered through the lab performing the RTPCR test. With the highest single-day spike of 16,922 cases in the last 24 hours, India’s COVID-19 count reached 4,73,105 on Thursday. The country also saw 418 deaths in the last 24 hours, which pushed its death toll to 14,894, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.
