Covid testing to hit 1-cr mark soon

NEW DELHI: The total number of Covid-19 tests in India is set to touch the one crore-mark soon with the Centre making all round efforts to remove bottlenecks and facilitate enhanced testing, the health ministry said on Thursday.


The ministry said diagnostic testing network is expanding very fast and there are now 1,065 testing labs in the country. “The total number of people being tested for Covid-19 in the country will soon touch one crore. This has been possible due to removal of all bottlenecks by government of India. Various steps taken by the central government have paved the way for enhanced testing for Covid-19,” health ministry said.


Till Wednesday (July 1), India tested 90.56 lakh samples, of which 2.29 lakh samples were tested on the same day. With better utilisation of private facilities, the government is hopeful that testing rate will expand faster, helping in early detection, contact tracing and treatment.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has again asked states to fix prices of RT-PCR tests at private labs so that the option is not out of reach for many.

ICMR had initially capped price of RT-PCR test at Rs 4,500 but with increased availability of testing kits, it later removed the cap in May and instead asked states to negotiate with private labs and arrive at a “mutually agreeable” rates.

To expand testing, ICMR has also set aside the condition to have a prescription from a government doctor to get Covid-l9 test done. ICMR has advised States/UTs to facilitate testing at the earliest by enabling all qualified medical practitioners, including private practitioners, to prescribe Covid tests.