India is Fighting COVID-19 With Only 12 Tests Per 1 Lakh People

Janaab Aise Kaise

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Video Editor: Varun Sharma

The number of coronavirus cases in India is now rising exponentially, but are we testing enough?

By 10 April, India, which has a population of 1.3 billion people, had not test even 1.5 lakh citizens. Uttar Pradesh. Bihar, West Bengal and Gujarat did not even test 10,000 people in their state.

By 10 April, the number of positive cases of coronavirus crossed 6,000 mark, of which over 200 people have lost their lives. Some believe that we are doing better than China and the US, but the question is, should we declare victory over coronavirus without conducting enough tests?

The first case of coronavirus in India was detected on 30 January and after almost two months, a 21-day nationwide lockdown was announced by Prime Minster Narendra Modi to curb the spread of the virus. At the end of February, only three coronavirus positive cases were registered, but by the end of March, 1,100 people were tested positive. These number came in the light only when 38,442 tests were conducted  by 30 March. Not even 50,000 tests were conducted at the time when thousands of people arrived India only in the month on March.   

Numbers Telling a Story

When the testing speed was increased after a delay of two months, the numbers were very different. By 1 April, there were over 1,600 cases, 38 of them had died. By 10 April, the health ministry website showed over 6,000 positives cases of coronavirus and more than 200 deaths.

India is testing 12 people per one lakh. South Korea has a population of over five crore and they have tested more than 2.5 lakh people. Germany tested over 12 lakh people. Italy, which has been worst hit by the virus, is testing around 1,300 people per one lakh. Even Pakistan is testing more than India, 19 people per one lakh.

Countries that were late in testing its people are suffering the most, like the US. In the US, by 10 April, over 16,000 people have lost their lives and more than four lakh people are coronavirus positive. Despite being a superpower, the delay in conducting test by the US resulted in a huge loss of human lives.

India’s Story Of Coronavirus Tests

With over 1,200 case, Maharashtra has most number of coronavirus positive patients. This is only because it has tested over 26,000 people. States like Rajasthan, Kerala and Delhi are conducting more tests while Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, West Bengal and Karnataka have tested least. Bihar, which has a population of around 10 crore, is testing less than 500 people and has only four test centres.

By 10 April, not even 2,500 people were tested in Jharkhand and it has only two testing centres. Around 20 crore people live in Uttar Pradesh but it able to test only 700-800 people in a day. Gujarat did not test even 5000 people by 10 April.

These numbers tell us that the rate at which people are being tested in India is not enough especially when there are people with no symptoms being tested coronavirus positive. If India wants to win the fight against coronavirus, it has to increase the number of tests and testing centres.