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 26,15,920 samples had been tested as of 9 am on May 21. As per ICMR's bulletin, 1,03,532 samples were tested in 24 hours, from 9 am on May 20 to 9 am on May 21.
Here are the state-wise numbers as of 10 am on May 21:
> Andhra Pradesh has tested 2,67,612 samples out of which 2,65,052 were negative. As on May 20, the state has a total of 2,560 cases, with 1,664 recoveries and 53 deaths.
> Kerala has tested 48,543 samples so far and of these, 46,961 have returned negative. The state currently has 667 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 502 recoveries and 4 deaths.
> Tamil Nadu has tested 3,60,068 samples so far, with 13,191 people testing positive. 3,46,311 samples tested negative and results of 566 samples are awaited. A total of 5,882 patients have recovered and 87 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 1,661 people have tested positive so far, with 1,013 recoveries. The state has recorded 40 deaths so far.
> Karnataka has tested 1,66,781 samples, with 1,462 people testing positive and 1,64,199 samples returning negative. The state has recorded 41 COVID-19 deaths, while 556 persons have recovered.
> Maharashtra has tested 3,07,072 samples, out of which 2,67,775 were negative and 39,297 have tested positive. 1,390 people have died from the disease in the state, while 10,318 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.