By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, AUG 19, 2020: India has set another record in COVID-19 tests conducted per day. Nearly 9 lakh (8,99,864) testes have been conducted in a single day, the highest tests/day so far. With this, the cumulative tests have reached 3,09,41,264.

Even with such a high level of testing, the positivity has remained low i.e. 8.81% compared to the weekly national average i.e. 8.84%.

India has also recorded the highest single day recoveries of 57,937 in the last 24 hours. This is higher than the confirmed cases added during the same period (55,079 ). With more patients recovering and being discharged from hospitals and home isolation (in case of mild and moderate cases), the total recoveries have reached nearly 20 lakh (19,77,779). With this the gap between the recovered patients and the active cases has crossed 13 lakh today (13,04,613).

Continuous increase in average daily recoveries has led to India's Recovery Rate touching 73.18% and a low Case Fatality Rate (1.92%). As a result of collaborative and focussed efforts by the Centre and State/UT governments built on effective implementation of the TEST, TRACK, TREAT strategy of the Union Government, 30 States/UTs are reporting lower CFR than the national average. Aggressive TESTING leads to early identification and isolation of  positive cases. This coupled with efficient clinical treatment has ensured a law Fatality Rate down.

The actual case load of the country i.e. the active cases (6,73,166), is only 24.91% of the total positive cases. This figure is also exhibiting a steady downward trajectory.

An ever expanding national network of diagnostic labs has ensured the exponentially growing number of tests being conducted across the country. As on date, 1476 total labs are operational with 971 labs in the government sector and 505 private labs. These include:

• Real-Time RT PCR based testing labs: 755 (Govt: 450 + Private: 305)

• TrueNat based testing labs: 604 (Govt: 487 + Private: 117)

• CBNAAT based testing labs: 117 (Govt: 34 + Private: 83)

For all authentic & updated information on COVID-19 related technical issues, guidelines & advisories please regularly visit: https://www.mohfw.gov.in/ and @MoHFW_INDIA.