India has ramped up testing since the 21-day lockdown was announced on March 24, which has now been extended to May 3.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, a total of 6,25,309 samples have been tested till April 26, 9 am. No further data was provided. As per ICMR's bulletins, around 45,352 samples were tested in 24 hours, from 9 am on April 25 to 9 am on April 26.
Here are the state-wise numbers as of 11 am on April 26:
— Andhra Pradesh has tested 61,266 samples out of which 60,250 were negative. As on April 26, the state has a total of 1097 cases, with 231 recoveries and 31 deaths.
— Kerala has tested 22,630 samples so far and of these, 21,457 have returned negative. The state currently has 457 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 337 recoveries and 4 deaths.
— Tamil Nadu has tested 80,110 samples so far, with 1,821 people testing positive. 69,390 samples were tested negative and results of 1,754 samples are awaited. 7,145 samples have repeat samples of the same persons. 960 people have recovered and 23 people have died due to the disease.
—Telangana had last provided testing data on April 19, but has not given any updates thereafter. A total of 990 cases have been reported in the state, with 307 recoveries and 25 deaths.
— Karnataka has tested 39,083 samples, with 500 people testing positive. The state has recorded 18 COVID-19 deaths, while 158 persons have recovered.
— Maharashtra has tested 1,08,972 laboratory samples, out of which 1,01,162 were negative and 7,628 have been tested positive. 301 people have died from the disease in the state, while 840 have recovered.
Public health experts have called for wider testing to check for community transmission of COVID-19. The Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) testing strategy has now been expanded and all symptomatic patients with influenza-like illness (ILI) - those with fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose - need to be tested in hotspots/clusters (identified by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) and in large migration gatherings/ evacuees centres. Symptomatic ILI patients will have to be tested within seven days of presenting with the illness.
Earlier, the guidelines limited testing to those who have international travel history and are symptomatic; those who have contact history with a confirmed COVID-19 case and have symptoms of the virus; healthcare workers who are symptomatic; patients hospitalised with Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI); and a direct or high-risk contact of a confirmed COVID-19 case who can be symptomatic or asymptomatic.
Presently, only the RT-PCR or the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test can detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. However, ICMR has allowed places that are hotspots (high number of cases) to test residents using the rapid antibody kits, which can deliver results within 30-45 minutes as opposed to 24 hours that an RT-PCR test. However, a positive result by the rapid antibody test will have to be further tested by the RT-PCR test to confirm for the novel coronavirus. ICMR advises those with a negative result by the rapid antibody test to be home quarantined.
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