India completes record of 20 crore COVID-19 tests till date: Health ministry

The country has so far carried out 20,06,72,589 tests, out of which about 7.4 lakh tests were conducted in the last 24 hours.

Moneycontrol News
February 06, 2021 / 06:07 PM IST

more than 54 lakh beneficiaries have been inoculated so far. (Representative Image)

India on February 6 completed a record 20 crore COVID-19 tests, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The country has so far carried out 20,06,72,589 tests, out of which about 7.4 lakh tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, the ministry said in a statement.

Progressive countrywide expansion in testing infrastructure played a crucial role in the steep rise of testing numbers, the ministry said.

"With 2,369 testing labs in the country, including 1,214 government laboratories and 1,155 private laboratories, the daily testing capacity has got a substantial boost," it said in the statement.

The ministry said high level of comprehensive testing on a sustained basis has also resulted in bringing down the national positivity rate.

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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.

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"The cumulative positivity rate in the country is also declining and presently pegged at 5.39 percent," it said.

The total active caseload also dropped to less than 1.5 lakh (1,48,590) on February 6 - the lowest in eight months - which is just 1.37 percent of the country's total positive cases.

According to the ministry, the country saw less than 100 fatalities (95) in the past 24 hours.

On the vaccination front, more than 54 lakh beneficiaries have been inoculated so far, the ministry said in the statement.

The ministry added that India was the fastest country to reach the 5 million mark in COVID-19 vaccination, achieving the feat in merely 21 days.

In the last 24 hours, 4,57,404, including 3,01,537 healthcare workers and 1,55,867 frontline workers, people were vaccinated across 10,502 sessions.

India also recorded a downfall in the daily new cases and an increase in recovered number of people. The recovery rate reached nearly 97.19 percent on February 6, the ministry said.
Moneycontrol News
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first published: Feb 6, 2021 06:06 pm