4cr Covid tests so far, over 1cr in last fortnight itself

NEW DELHI: With over 9 lakh tests conducted on Friday, India carried out more than 1 crore Covid-19 tests in the past two weeks, taking the total number of tests to nearly 4 crore, the health ministry said, highlighting that tests per million had increased to 28,607.

The government has created a capacity of doing 10 lakh tests per day. A total of 9,01,338 samples were tested in a span of 24 hours on Thursday, taking the cumulative tests to 3.94 crore.

“It is only by aggressive testing that positive cases can be identified at an early stage, their close contacts tracked and isolated as well as timely and effective treatment can be ensured,” the ministry said.

The testing lab network in the country is continuously strengthened which currently consists of 1,564 labs — 998 in the government sector and 566 private laboratories.