India third most affected in coronavirus outbreak, but not testing enough

Brazil, Russia, and the US, are conducting at least three times higher number of tests than India

The global confirmed case count for the coronavirus is 20.3 million, of which more than 6 million are active. There have been 741,483 deaths worldwide, while over 12 million people have made successful recoveries. India now has the fastest-growing cases load in the world. 

In India, there are now over 2.3 million cases, of which 639,929, or roughly 28 per cent are currently active. The country’s mortality rate stands at 2 per cent, with over 40,000 deaths. There have been 1,583,489 successful recoveries in the country. 

Here are some data points on the extent of the pandemic:

1. Tamil Nadu crosses 300,000 cases

After Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu is the second state to have more than 300,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus. For almost 10 days now, the state has reported more than 5,000 cases each day. The state has over 5,000 fatalities, but more than 80 per cent of all cases have recovered. 

2. Kamrup has the highest density of cases in India 

Kamrup district in Assam has the highest density of active cases in the country, at over 6,000 active cases per 1 million in population. It is followed by Pune and Bengaluru. Besides Kamrup, Dimapur in Nagaland figures in the top five places with the highest density of cases. 

3. India has among the lowest test penetration rates in the world 

Despite having the third-highest number of confirmed as well as active cases in the world, India’s testing rates remain dismally low, at just 18,300 tests per million. In comparison, most countries reporting a high number of cases, such as Brazil, Russia, and the US, are conducting at least three times higher number of tests.