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 36,11,599 samples had been tested as of 9 am on May 30. As per ICMR's bulletin, 1,27,761 samples were tested in 24 hours, from 9 am on May 29 to 9 am on May 30.
Here are the state-wise numbers as of 10 am on May 30:
> Andhra Pradesh has tested 3,53,874 samples out of which 3,50,544 were negative. As on May 29, the state has a total of 3,330 cases, with 2,226 recoveries and 60 deaths.
> Kerala has tested 62,746 samples so far and of these, 60,448 have returned negative. The state currently has 1,150 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 565 recoveries and 9 deaths.
> Tamil Nadu has tested 4,66,550 samples so far, with 20,246 people testing positive. 4,45,668 samples tested negative and results of 636 samples are awaited. A total of 11,313 patients have recovered and 154 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 2,425 people have tested positive so far, with 1,381 recoveries. The state has recorded 71 deaths so far.
> Karnataka has tested 2,64,489 samples, with 2,781 people testing positive and 2,58,130 samples returning negative. The state has recorded 48 COVID-19 deaths, while 894 persons have recovered.
> Maharashtra has tested 4,33,557 samples, out of which 62,228 have tested positive. 2,098 people have died from the disease in the state, while 26,997 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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