India has doubled down on its testing since the lockdown was announced on March 24, which has now been extended to May 31.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a total of 31,26,119 samples had been tested as of 9 am on May 26. As per ICMR's bulletin, 92,528 samples were tested in 24 hours, from 9 am on May 25 to 9 am on May 26.
Here are the state-wise numbers as of 10 am on May 26:
> Andhra Pradesh has tested 3,14,566 samples out of which 3,11,680 were negative. As on May 25, the state has a total of 2,886 cases, with 1,884 recoveries and 56 deaths.
> Kerala has tested 54,899 samples so far and of these, 53,704 have returned negative. The state currently has 897 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 532 recoveries and 5 deaths.
> Tamil Nadu has tested 4,21,450 samples so far, with 17,082 people testing positive. 4,03,762 samples tested negative and results of 606 samples are awaited. A total of 8,731 patients have recovered and 118 patients have died due to the disease.
> Telangana had been providing sample numbers till April 30. However, the updated numbers since then are not known. A total of 1,920 people have tested positive so far, with 1,164 recoveries. The state has recorded 56 deaths so far.
> Karnataka has tested 2,19,894 samples, with 2,182 people testing positive and 2,15,308 samples returning negative. The state has recorded 44 COVID-19 deaths, while 705 persons have recovered.
> Maharashtra has tested 3,78,555 samples, out of which 52,667 have tested positive. 1,695 people have died from the disease in the state, while 15,786 have recovered.
On May 18, the ICMR revised its strategy for COVID-19 testing. As per the new guideline, those with a history of international travel in the past 14 days, who show Influenza-like Illness (ILI) symptoms — acute respiratory infection with fever more than 38ºC coupled with cough — will be tested.
Considering that migrant workers and expatriates are returning to their native states, all returnees and migrants, who exhibit symptoms, will be tested within seven days of developing an illness.
Additionally, all asymptomatic direct and high-risk contacts of a confirmed case will be tested once between day 5 and 10 of coming into contact with a COVID-19 patient, unlike previously between day 5 and 14.
The other patients that will be tested include:
* Symptomatic contacts of laboratory-confirmed cases
* Symptomatic health care workers or frontline workers involved in containment and mitigation of the disease
* Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) patients
* Symptomatic individuals within hotspots and containment zones
* Hospitalised patients who develop symptoms
The ICMR has recommended that all testing be done only with real-time RT-PCR or the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test. This test can detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
For The News Minute's live tracker map, click the 'Coronavirus Live' icon found on the top right corner of every page.