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 8,30,201 samples have been tested as on 9 am of 30 April 2020. No further data was provided. As per ICMR's bulletins, around 59,437 samples were tested in 24 hours, from 9 am on April 29 to 9 am on April 30.
Here are the state-wise numbers as of 9 am on April 30:
— Andhra Pradesh has tested 88,061 samples out of which 86,729 were negative. As on April 30, the state has a total of 1,332 cases, with 287 recoveries and 31 deaths.
— Kerala has tested 24,952 samples so far and of these, 23,880 have returned negative. The state currently has 495 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 369 recoveries and 4 deaths.
— Tamil Nadu has tested 1,09,961 samples so far, with 2,162 people testing positive. 1,05,864 samples were tested negative and results of 1,935 samples are awaited. 1,210 people have recovered and 27 people have died due to the disease.
—Telangana has tested 19,325 samples till date. A total of 1,037 people have tested positive so far, with 409 recoveries. The state has recorded 25 deaths so far.
— Karnataka has tested 55,404 samples, with 534 people testing positive and 53,241 samples returning negative. The state has recorded 20 COVID-19 deaths, while 216 persons have recovered.
— Maharashtra has tested 1,37,159 laboratory samples on April 29, out of which 1,26,376 were negative and 9,915 had tested positive. 432 people have died from the disease in the state, while 1,593 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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