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 30,33,591 samples had been tested as of 9 am on May 25. As per ICMR's bulletin, 90,170 samples were tested in 24 hours, from 9 am on May 24 to 9 am on May 25.
Here are the state-wise numbers as of 10 am on May 25:
> Andhra Pradesh has tested 3,04,326 samples out of which 3,01,529 were negative. As on May 24, the state has a total of 2,797 cases, with 1,807 recoveries and 56 deaths.
> Kerala has tested 53,873 samples so far and of these, 52,355 have returned negative. The state currently has 847 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 520 recoveries and 5 deaths.
> Tamil Nadu has tested 4,09,615 samples so far, with 16,277 people testing positive. 3,92,690 samples tested negative and results of 648 samples are awaited. A total of 8,324 patients have recovered and 111 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 1,854 people have tested positive so far, with 1,092 recoveries. The state has recorded 53 deaths so far.
> Karnataka has tested 2,06,313 samples, with 2,089 people testing positive and 2,01,978 samples returning negative. The state has recorded 42 COVID-19 deaths, while 654 persons have recovered.
> Maharashtra has tested 3,62,862 samples, out of which 3,12,631 were negative and 50,231 have tested positive. 1,635 people have died from the disease in the state, while 14,600 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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