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 25,12,388 samples had been tested as of 9 am on May 20. As per ICMR's bulletin, 1,08,121 samples were tested in 24 hours, from 9 am on May 19 to 9 am on May 20.
Here are the state-wise numbers as of 10 am on May 20:
> Andhra Pradesh has tested 2,58,450 samples out of which 2,55,961 were negative. As on May 19, the state has a total of 2,489 cases, with 1,621 recoveries and 52 deaths.
> Kerala has tested 46,958 samples so far and of these, 45,527 have returned negative. The state currently has 643 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 497 recoveries and 4 deaths.
> Tamil Nadu has tested 3,48,174 samples so far, with 12,448 people testing positive. 3,34,839 samples tested negative and results of 887 samples are awaited. A total of 4,895 patients have recovered and 84 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 1,634 people have tested positive so far, with 1,011 recoveries. The state has recorded 38 deaths so far.
> Karnataka has tested 1,58,599 samples, with 1,395 people testing positive and 1,56,247 samples returning negative. The state has recorded 40 COVID-19 deaths, while 543 persons have recovered.
> Maharashtra has tested 2,93,998 samples, out of which 2,56,785 were negative and 37,136 have tested positive. 1,325 people have died from the disease in the state, while 9,639 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.
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