Over 38 lakh samples tested so far: Data from south states, Maharashtra

India has doubled down on its testing since the lockdown was announced on March 24. The government announced guidelines for Lockdown 5.0 on Saturday, where containment zones will see the lockdown extended until June 30, while phases for reopening non-containment zones will begin from June 8. 

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a total of 38,37,207 samples had been tested as of 10 am on June 1. As per ICMR's bulletin, 1,00,180 samples were tested in 24 hours, from 9 am on May 31 to 9 am on June 1.

Here are the state-wise numbers as of 10 am on June 1:

> Andhra Pradesh has tested 3,72,748 samples out of which 3,69,177 were negative. As on May 31, the state has a total of 3,571 cases, with 2,332 recoveries and 62 deaths.

> Kerala has tested 65,002 samples so far and of these, 64,093 have returned negative. The state currently has 1,270 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 590 recoveries and 10 deaths.

> Tamil Nadu has tested 4,91,962 samples so far, with 22,333 people testing positive. 4,68,940 samples tested negative and results of 689 samples are awaited. A total of 12,757 patients have recovered and 173 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 2,698 people have tested positive so far, with 1,428 recoveries. The state has recorded 82 deaths so far.

> Karnataka has tested 2,93,575 samples, with 3,221 people testing positive and 2,86,245 samples returning negative. The state has recorded 51 COVID-19 deaths, while 1,218 persons have recovered.

> Maharashtra has tested 4,62,176 samples, out of which 67,655 have tested positive. 2,286 people have died from the disease in the state, while 29,329 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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