India's Covid-19 testing hits record high of 420,000 samples a day

With increased testing of samples for Covid-19, the fatality rate has significantly dropped to 2.35 per cent on Saturday and the recovery rate has surged to 63.54 per cent

India has gradually ramped-up its testing capacity for Covid-19 and conducted over 420,000 tests in a day, the highest ever, the Union Health Ministry said Saturday, crediting the increase in number of labs for the achievement.

India had only one lab for testing samples for the disease in January but it has now increased the number to 1,301, including private labs. The Health Ministry said revised guidelines by ICMR and all-round efforts by states also aided in widespread testing.

Till Friday, a total of 1,58,49,068 tests for Covid-19 had been done in the country.

India did 350,000 tests every day