Coronavirus: India urges states to ramp up testing as Covid-19 cases climb
- The federal government is asking states to dramatically increase testing after seeing the highest daily case count since September
- India recorded more than 44.7 million cases of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic 3 years ago, highest after the US and China
India’s federal government asked states to identify emergency hotspots and ramp up-testing for Covid-19, after the country recorded its highest daily case count since September, a Reuters tally showed on Friday.
There were 6,050 new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, the federal health ministry said on Friday, continuing a sharp upwards trend since a lull last year.
At a meeting to review the degree to which the states are prepared, health minister Mansukh Mandaviya asked them to ramp up genome testing and conduct mock drills in hospitals, a government statement said.
Daily new cases have nearly tripled from around 2,000 at the end of March.
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The prevalence of XBB. 1.16, classified as a variant of interest by the World Health Organization, increased from 21.6 per cent in February to 35.8 per cent in March, the health ministry said, adding there that was no evidence of an increase in hospitalisations or deaths.
Active cases totalled more than 28,300 with 14 deaths during the last 24 hours, taking the country’s official death toll from the disease to 530,943.
India, a country of nearly 1.4 billion people, has recorded more than 44.7 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic three years ago, the third-highest tally after the United States and China.
The nation administered more than 2.2 billion Covid-19 vaccine doses, but only 27 per cent of the population had received a third booster dose, according to figures released in December.
At that time, India began randomly testing 2 per cent of international passengers arriving at its airports, citing an increase in cases in neighbouring China, and the government asked its states to keep a lookout for any new variants, urging people to wear masks in crowded areas.
