Indian Council of Medical Research [ICMR] has achieved the milestone of conducting 40 crores testing on June 25, 2021. With average testing of more than 18 lakhs per day in the month of June, India has tested 40,18,11,892 samples across the country till the above-mentioned date.

As on June 1, 2021, India had tested 35 crores COVID-19 samples. It reached 40 crores mark on June 25, 2021. This has been enabled by rapidly increasing testing infrastructure and capacity across the country. ICMR has been enhancing COVID-19 testing capability across the country by expanding and diversifying testing capacity by leveraging technology and facilitating innovation in affordable diagnostic kits. 

Prof (Dr) Balram Bhargava, Director General, ICMR said, “We have effectively responded to the evolving epidemic through focussed and collaborative efforts of the Centre, State/UTs government. The exponential increase in testing has led to early identification, prompt isolation and effective treatment of COVID-19 cases. These have eventually resulted in a sustained low fatality rate. This testing milestone is testimony to the fact that India has been successful in implementing the strategy of 5T approach “Test, Track, Trace, Treat and use of Technology” efficiently, which will enable us to contain the spread of the pandemic.’’ 

The total number of diagnostic laboratories has reached 2675. Of which dedicated government laboratories are 1676 and private laboratories number stands at 999. ICMR has also approved India’s first self-use Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) for COVID-19 and is encouraging self-test kits to reduce queues in laboratories, reduce costs, dissipate the burden on existing manpower for a sample collection from homes, and provide results without delay.