Uttar Pradesh conducts record 2.99 lakh tests in 24 hours

LUCKNOW: While testing in several states dipped over the fortnight, Uttar Pradesh ramped up the campaign and maintained its top slot nationwide. And on Wednesday, the state created a new record with its labs conducting more than 2.99 lakh tests in 24 hours — highest by any state so far — taking total tests done since onset of pandemic to 4.55 crore. “Testing is backbone of state’s strategy to flatten the pandemic graph in affected districts,” said Alok Kumar III, secretary to chief minister Yogi Adityanath.
He also said, following CM’s orders to intensify testing coupled with efforts by health and medical education department, 1.03 crore tests were done in the second wave.
61.43L tests conducted at peak of Covid 2nd wave
The cumulative figure of 1.03 crore tests since the onset of the second wave works up to 22.6% tests conducted so far since the pandemic struck in March 2020,” he said.
Over 61.43 lakh tests were done at the peak of the second wave between April 1 and April 30.
The highest daily count was reported on April 24, while maximum burden of active infections was recorded on April 30. New cases have been on a decline, while recoveries picked up thereafter.
Still, testing has been ramped up. In fact, 41.69 lakh tests have been conducted since May 1. This means the average number of tests per day between April 1 and 30 was about 2.04 lakh, while the average for 19 days thereafter has been 2.19 lakh tests per day.
Data from Indian Council of Medical Education indicated that UP accounts for about 14% of the total tests done in the country. As per a TOI assessment of ICMR data, Covid-19 testing has dipped in several states while it picked up in UP.
As many as 29.07 lakh tests were conducted in UP in the fortnight between April 21 and May 4, which went up to 31.50 lakh in the subsequent fortnight of May 4-17. On the contrary, it went down in worst-hit Maharashtra from 34.9 lakh tests in April 21-May 4 to 32.33 lakh in the May 4-17 fortnight.
Likewise, Karnataka clocked 17.40 lakh tests in the May 4-17 fortnight from 22.19 lakh in the previous fortnight.