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 34,83,838 samples had been tested as of 9 am on May 29. As per ICMR's bulletin, 1,21,702 samples were tested in 24 hours, from 9 am on May 28 to 9 am on May 29.
Here are the state-wise numbers as of 10 am on May 29:
> Andhra Pradesh has tested 3,42,236 samples out of which 3,38,991 were negative. As on May 28, the state has a total of 3,245 cases, with 2,125 recoveries and 59 deaths.
> Kerala has tested 58,866 samples so far and of these, 56,558 have returned negative. The state currently has 1088 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 555 recoveries and 8 deaths.
> Tamil Nadu has tested 4,55,216 samples so far, with 19,372 people testing positive. 4,23,775 samples tested negative and results of 650 samples are awaited. A total of 10,548 patients have recovered and 145 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 2,256 people have tested positive so far, with 1,345 recoveries. The state has recorded 67 deaths so far.
> Karnataka has tested 2,52,078 samples, with 2,533 people testing positive and 2,46,115 samples returning negative. The state has recorded 47 COVID-19 deaths, while 834 persons have recovered.
> Maharashtra has tested 4,19,417 samples, out of which 59,546 have tested positive. 1,982 people have died from the disease in the state, while 18,616 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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