India registers unprecedented record in testing with more than 20 cr tests

New Delhi: India has registered an unprecedented record in the number of COVID-19 cumulative tests. It has crossed the landmark of 20 crore (20,06,72,589) total tests on Saturday, and 7,40,794 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, progressive countrywide expansion in testing infrastructure has played a crucial role in the steep rise of testing numbers. With 2369 testing labs in the country including 1,214 government laboratories and 1,155 private laboratories, the daily testing capacity has got a substantial boost.

The cumulative positivity rate is also declining and presently pegged at 5.39%. High level of comprehensive testing on a sustained basis has also resulted in bringing down the national positivity rate. The higher daily testing combined with low daily cases have resulted in low positivity rate.

India’s total active caseload continues to follow a consistent downward slope. It has dropped to less than 1.5 lakh (1,48,590) on Saturday and is the lowest in 8 months. The present active caseload now consists of just 1.37% of India’s total positive cases. The country has seen less than 100 fatalities (95) in the last 24 hours.

As on 06^thFebruary, 2021, till 08:00 AM, total number of vaccinated beneficiaries surpassed 54 lakhs (54,16,849) under the countrywide COVID19 vaccination exercise. The number of beneficiaries being vaccinated every day has shown a consistent and progressive increase.

India is the fastest country to reach the five million mark in COVID19 vaccination. This feat was achieved in merely 21 days. Several other countries have had a head start of more than 60 days in the COVID19 vaccination exercise.

In the last 24 hours, 4,57,404 people were vaccinated across 10,502 sessions. So far, 1,06,303 sessions have been conducted. It includes 3,01,537 healthcare workers and 1,55,867 frontline workers.

India has also recorded a downfall in the daily new cases and an increase in recovered number of people. The Recovery Rate has reached nearly 97.19%. Total 1,05,10,796 people have recovered, and 14,488 patients have recovered and discharged in the last 24 hours.

82.07% of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in 6 States/UTs. Kerala has reported the maximum number of single day recoveries with 6,653 newly recovered cases. 3,573 people recovered in Maharashtra in the past 24 hours followed by 506 in Tamil Nadu.

83.3% of the new cases are from 6 States and UTs. Kerala continues to report the highest daily new cases at 5,610. It is followed by Maharashtra with 2,628, while Tamil Nadu reported 489 new cases.

Six States/UTs account for 81.05% of the new deaths. Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (40). Kerala follows with 19 daily deaths and Chhattisgarh with 8. Only two states have registered a double-digit daily casualty count.