Coronavirus / India conducts record 4.4L COVID-19 tests in a day, total cases reach 13.8L

New Delhi: India reported more than 48,000 new cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and over 700 deaths in the last 24 hours, Union health minister data showed on Sunday, five days before Unlock 2.0 ends.

Unlock 2.0, in which the government had eased some restrictions after the 68-day hard lockdown, will end on July 31. It was the second of a three-phase plan aimed at lifting restrictions imposed to stop the spread of the infection.

The Centre is unlikely to allow the reopening of schools in the next phase of easing of restrictions that are expected next week, according to top officials involved in the discussions.

The officials added that Metro rail services were unlikely to start soon while gyms and swimming pools might remain out of bounds. Large congregations may also continue to remain prohibited.

According to the health ministry’s Covid-19 tracker, the country reported 48,661 cases and 705 deaths between Saturday and Sunday, taking its tally to 1,385,522.

The number of recoveries rose to 885,576 as 36,145 people were cured of the viral disease in the last 24 hours, according to health ministry’s data. The gap between the number of active cases at 467,882 and those of recovered people further widened to 417,694.

The recovery rate now stands at 63.91%.

The government said on Saturday about 420,000 Covid-19 tests were conducted in India in a day, nearly double the daily testing capacity of 220,000 at the beginning of July.

According to the Union health ministry’s data, as many as 16 million tests have been conducted in India until now.

The increased testing has taken India’s tests per million to 11,485, according to the data. This is much lower compared to the United States with 158,981 tests per million and just about half of Brazil’s 23,094. The US and Brazil are the two worst-hit countries by the pandemic.

The Centre has advised the states and Union territories to keep up the “test, track and treat” strategy.

“Aggressive testing may lead to a higher number of daily positive cases initially but would eventually achieve a decline as has been demonstrated after Union Government’s targeted efforts in the NCT [National Capital Territory] of Delhi,” it said in a press release.

The number of infections neared the 16 million mark and the death toll stood at 643,821 across the world, according to coronavirus tracker of Johns Hopkins University.