In a bid to further ramp up Covid-19 testing capacity, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched “high throughput” testing facilities in Noida, Mumbai and Kolkata. The PM said during the launch that the laboratories would not be restricted to Covid-19 testing, but would be expanded for testing of other diseases like Hepatitis B & C, HIV, and dengue in the future.
“Today, there are more than 11,000 Covid-19 facilities and more than 11 lakh isolation beds in the country. We also have nearly 1,300 testing laboratories in the country and more than 5 lakh tests are being conducted daily. The new testing facilities will give West Bengal, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh more strength to fight Covid-19,” PM Modi said.
India witnessed record 49,931 fresh infections in the last 24 hours which took India’s Covid-19 tally past the 14-lakh mark. The country’s coronavirus tally stood at 14,35,453, while 708 coronavirus patients died in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of Covid-linked deaths to 32,771. More than 9.1 lakh patients have recovered so far and the recovery rate stood at 63.92%.
Maharashtra’s coronavirus toll rose to 13,883 with 227 deaths while the case count increased to 3,83,723 with the addition of 7,924 fresh Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours. As many as 8,706 patients were discharged after recovery, taking the number of recoveries to 2,21,944 and active cases to 1,47,592 active cases.
Tamil Nadu reported the highest single day spike of 6,993 fresh Covid-19 cases, taking the state’s total to 2,20,716 while 77 deaths took the toll to 3,571. Chennai and its nearby three districts accounted for 2,422 cases. Of the total deaths, Chennai accounts for 2,032. Meanwhile, Karnataka reported single biggest day spike of 5,324 fresh infections and 75 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases in the state to 1,01,465, while death toll climbed to 1,953. Currently, there are 61,819 active cases in the state.
Delhi reported 613 fresh novel coronavirus cases, taking the case count to 1,31,219, while the toll rose to 3,853 with 26 deaths. There are 10,994 active cases of the coronavirus disease, while 1,16,372 patients have recovered so far. As many as 11,506 Covid-19 tests, including 7,685 rapid antigen tests, were conducted in the last 24 hours. The number of tests done till date rose to 9,58,283 and the tests per million was 50,435.
Uttar Pradesh reported its highest single-day spike of 3,505 new Covid-19 cases, taking the total to over 70,000, while 30 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 1,456 in the state. Meanwhile Odisha’s Covid-19 tally shot up to 26,892 with 1,503 fresh cases, while the death toll rose to 147 as seven more people succumbed to the virus.
Haryana recorded 795 new cases of coronavirus in last 24 hours which took the total tally to 32,127. While 397 people died due to the deadly virus and 25,046 patients have recovered so far. There are now 6,684 active cases of corona in the state.
Gujarat recorded 22 deaths and 1,052 fresh infections in the last 24 hours. Gujarat’s case count mounted to 56,874, including 13,146 active cases while 41,380 patients got discharged from different hospitals across the state and 2,348 people have died due to the deadly virus in the state.
West Bengal reported 2,112 fresh cases in the last 24 hours which took the case tally to 60,830. The total number of active and discharged cases in the state is 19,502 and 39,917 respectively. The death toll climbed to 1,411 in the state so far.