- Maharashtra doubles testing in July, UP Triples.
- Delhi tops in per million population tests, Bihar refuses to test more
by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
New Delhi, Aug. 1
However, it’s the national Capital of Delhi where the highest number of tests were conducted among per million people. It tested 50000 per million people while Maharashtra’s averaged 16,408 tests only. Maharashtra has one solace i.e. it is higher than the national average of 13181 tests per million. (see the table)
India is set to touch two crores Covid testing mark ever since testing began in March this year. In a new record, more than one crores tests were conducted in the month of July itself according to data accessed from official sources.
Of the two crores tests, five states alone- Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, UP, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan – accounted for one crore tests. Maharashtra doubled its daily testing from 25182 tests on July 1 to 58192 tests on July 30. It also doubled its monthly testing from 9.95 lakh tests on July 1 to 20.21 lakhs on July 30. Similarly, India’s testing also doubled during July – from 2.18 lakh tests to 5.25 lakh tests yesterday. The Prime Minister has set a target of crossing 10 lakh tests per day on the back of ramping up testing capacity in the country.
Till the end of June, testing was lacklustre across Maharashtra as different departments were involved in testing. But now all kinds of testing was brought under one department and it paid rich dividends, said a source in the state government.
The data clearly showed that UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath set a record as the state is at number two in the country and its positivity rate is lowest with 3.6% only. Surprisingly, UP had conducted 7 lakh tests on July 1. But it tripled within one month to 21.20 lakh tests which is a record.
Compared with Bihar’s 'Sushashan Babu' as Nitish Kumar is known where 5 lakh tests have been conducted so far with a positivity rate of 9.1%. Its per million population test is the lowest in the country with 4160 tests. Sources in the Union Health Ministry say that low testing is despite repeated pleas by the PM and other agencies.
Official sources say that with fatality rate down to 2.20% in the country and the virus is not deadly either, there is a hope that India will see Coronavirus peak sometime in September-October.
