(Riya Saha, Intern Journalist)The number of samples tested for novel Coronavirus in India crossed the 10-million mark (1 crore) on Monday. Undoubtedly, this is a significant milestone, however, India’s testing numbers are still low compared to many other countries with severe caseloads.
China, whose number of infections is around 85,0000 has carried out more than 90 million tests, the United States has carried out more than 38 million samples, Russia has tested more than 21 million samples, according to data, The same database shows that the United Kingdom, right now, is marginally ahead of India.
As the coronavirus outbreak started two months prior in these countries, the testing earlier there than India. India now has a network of more than 1,100 laboratories that are conducting these diagnostic tests. More than two lakh samples are being tested every day now.
Yet, considering the huge population, the penetration of testing is still quite low. There have been less than 7,400 tests per million population. This number in the United States is 115,449, according to the database, and 62,814 for China, the only country with which India’s population can be compared.