Daily Covid-19 tests up 84% in a month, just shy of 140,000 mark: ICMR data

Technicians conducting over 60,000 more tests daily than a month ago; slight drop in number of positive cases at 5,357, though daily and weekly positivity rates are still above 3%

A day before hospitals across states get ready for a mock drill, there has been a pick-up in testing numbers for Covid. Over the past month, the number of daily tests conducted rose by 84 per cent to 137,412 on a seven-day moving average basis as on April 8, shows the latest data from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Technicians are conducting over 60,000 more tests a day now than they were a month ago. On Sunday, health ministry data showed a slight dip in the number of positive cases at 5,357, though both daily and weekly positivity rates are still above three per cent.

The seven-day moving average of daily tests was 74,678 on March 8 (chart 1). The seven-day moving average corrects for any anomalies because of lower testing on the weekend.

The health ministry called for expeditiously raising the rate of testing and the sharing of RT-PCR in overall tests in 23 states where testing levels were found to be below the national average. At the current rate, India is conducting 100 tests per million.

According to experts, the high rate of positivity is also due to lower levels of testing in states, with most people either going for home tests or not testing at all.

The number of cases detected have remained over the 5,000 mark for four days in a row. Current numbers remain close to what was seen in September 2022. There were 34,011 cases detected in the week ending Sunday. The figure on the previous Sunday was 18,458. The weekly number of cases has been above the 10,000 mark since March 28th, shows an analysis of data from the World Health Organisation and the latest government numbers (chart 2).

There has also been a corresponding increase in the number of deaths.  Eighty three people died in the last week after contracting Covid-19. The death figure a month ago was three. Deaths have risen 66 per cent over the last week (chart 3).