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 27,19,434 samples had been tested as of 9 am on May 22. As per ICMR's bulletin, 1,03,514 samples were tested in 24 hours, from 9 am on May 21 to 9 am on May 22.
Here are the state-wise numbers as of 10 am on May 22:
> Andhra Pradesh has tested 2,75,704 samples out of which 2,73,099 were negative. As on May 21, the state has a total of 2,605 cases, with 1,705 recoveries and 54 deaths.
> Kerala has tested 49,833 samples so far and of these, 48,276 have returned negative. The state currently has 691 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 510 recoveries and 5 deaths.
> Tamil Nadu has tested 3,72,532 samples so far, with 13,967 people testing positive. 3,57,898 samples tested negative and results of 667 samples are awaited. A total of 6,282 patients have recovered and 97 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 1,699 people have tested positive so far, with 1,036 recoveries. The state has recorded 45 deaths so far.
> Karnataka has tested 1,74,297 samples, with 1,605 people testing positive and 1,71,484 samples returning negative. The state has recorded 41 COVID-19 deaths, while 571 persons have recovered.
> Maharashtra has tested 3,19,710 samples, out of which 2,78,068 were negative and 41,642 have tested positive. 1,454 people have died from the disease in the state, while 11,726 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.