India Tests Over 2 Cr Samples For Covid-19, WHO Expert Says Testing Rate Still Lower Than Other Countries

World Health Organisation's (WHO) Chief Scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan has said that India’s testing rate is low compared to other countries.

Photo: PTI

New Delhi: India’s Covid-19 cases have continued to rise and on Tuesday the total reached 18,03,696 cases with 52,972 cases being reported in a single day. The Health Ministry has maintained that India’s recovery rate has remained high and there is a focus on increasing testing especially in states that have turned into a hotspot. But the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Chief Scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan has said that India’s testing rate is low compared to other countries. "India, as a whole, has a low testing rate compared to some of the countries which have done well like Germany, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and even the US. The moment your test positivity rate is above 5 percent, you know that you are not testing adequately," said  Swaminathan in a report by IANS. She said the WHO had been repeatedly emphasising that testing is extremely important. "Unless we do testing adequately, we don't know where the virus is. If you are not testing, you are fighting a fire blindfolded. We have to test, test, and test." According to the data by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) the total tests done in India so far is 2,14,84,402. Dr. Swaminathan also added that testing alone was not going to solve the problem; it has to be followed by isolation of people who tested positive followed by contact tracing, quarantining, taking care of positive people follow up is necessary to make sure the people who tested positive don’t fall into interstitial pneumonia or any other complications by monitoring their oxygen saturation regularly.