This exponential surge in the daily testing capacities strongly demonstrates the determined escalation of the testing infrastructure in the country, the ministry said.

PTI

A record14,92,409tests have been conducted for detection of COVID-19 in a span of 24 hours, taking thetotal tests done so far in the country to nearly 7 crore, whilethe national cumulative positivity rate stands at 8.44 percent,the Union Health Ministry said on Friday. The Tests Per Million (TPM) stand at 49,948 as of today, it said.

This exponential surge in the daily testing capacities strongly demonstrates the determined escalation of the testing infrastructure in the country, the ministry said.

"Evidence has revealed that higher numbers of testing subsequently leads to lowered positivity rate. States that are testing the highest numbers are also reporting a gradual decline in the positivity rate," the ministry said.

"India has scaled a historic peak in the fight against COVID-19. In a landmark achievement, for the first time, a record high number of nearly 15 lakh COVID-19 tests have been conducted in a single day taking the cumulative testsconducted so far to6,89,28,440," it said.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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With the expansion of testing infrastructure, the daily testing by states and UTs has also increased. As many as 23 states and UTs including Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Haryana, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Punjab and Telangana have better tests per million than the national average (49,948).

As reiterated by the prime minister while reviewing the status and preparedness of seven states and UTswith high burden of caseload recently, testing forms an integral pillar of COVID-19 response and management.

The Centre's three-pronged strategy of 'test, track and treat' begins with testing. Withthe "Chase the virus" approach, the Union Government aims to catch every missing person through testing to curb spread of the infection.

Several measures have been taken by the Union Government through calibrated steps to widen the testing net and ensure easier and more accessible testing by all across the country.

States/UTs have been empowered with flexibility to ensure higher testing. They have been advised that all symptomatic negatives of Rapid Antigen Tests are mandatorily subjected to RT-PCR.

First Published on Sep 25, 2020 01:21 pm

Nearly seven crore tests conducted in India for detection of COVID-19

This exponential surge in the daily testing capacities strongly demonstrates the determined escalation of the testing infrastructure in the country, the ministry said.

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tags #coronavirus #Covid-19 #Current Affairs #India