India has now hiked its coronavirus (COVID-19) sample testing capacity to over 4 lakh tests per day with 4,20,898 samples tested in the last 24 hours, according to a release issued by the Union Health Ministry on Saturday.
“With this, the Tests Per Million (TPM) has further increased to 11,485 and cumulative testing to 1,58,49,068. This elevated number comes on the heels of 3,50,000 tests having been done every day consistently over the last one week,” added the Ministry.
Also read: Is SARS-CoV-2 a latent virus which can recur?
Here is a list of State Helpline numbers. You can track coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates at the national and State levels here.
Here are the latest updates:
11.00 am
Karnataka now second only to Maharashtra in number of active COVID-19 cases in India
After reporting over 5,000 COVID-19 cases for the third consecutive day on Saturday, Karnataka now has the second-highest number of active cases in the country at 55,388, pushing Tamil Nadu to third place. Maharashtra continues to remain in first position with 1.45 lakh active cases.
10.30 am
IIT-Kharagpur develops technology for rapid COVID-19 testing
Researchers at Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur ( IIT-KGP) have developed a new technology for low cost COVID-19 tests using a portable device. The test results can be made available in a customised smartphone application for dissemination within one hour without requiring manual interpretation, researchers said.
9.45 am
Karnataka Forest Minister tests COVID-19 positive
Karnataka Forest Minister and Ballari in-charge Anand Singh tested positive for COVID-19.
The minister had voluntarily given his throat swab on Friday and the result was out late on Saturday. He has, however, developed no symptoms of the disease thus far and his health condition is stable.
Since he is an asymptomatic patient, he would get isolated and treated at his residence in Hospete, the sources close to Mr. Singh said.
9.30 am
West Bengal’s single-day mortality touches a new high with 42 deaths
West Bengal on Saturday recorded yet again the highest single-day number of deaths due to COVID-19 recording