COVID Update: India Is Third-Worst-Hit Nation, Conducts Over 1 Mn Tests In A Day; Positivity Rate 6.8%

The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases globally reached 23,120,216 on August 22, according to Worldometer. However, this number represents only the status of infection as captured through testing, as only lab-confirmed infections are counted as confirmed cases. This implies the true extent of the coronavirus pandemic’s spread could only be gauged by testing a lot.

In the words of World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the world needs to “Test, test, test. Test every suspected case”. The WHO chief had suggested on March 16 that testing was the only way to understand the extent of the problem and find a solution. “You cannot fight a fire blindfolded,” he had said.

Today, we know that the US, with over 5.7 million cases, is the most affected country. But it is also the country that has conducted most number of tests after China, where the virus was first reported. The US has so far conducted 74,718,580 tests in total, or 225,547 tests per 1 million tests in total. By comparison, India, which has a population over four times as big as the US’, has conducted 34,491,073 tests in total, or just 24,959tests per 1 million people. On August 21 it conducted 1,023,836 tests. India at present is the third-worst-hit country with 2,975,701 cases.

By

Babita Sharma,

Editor, INBA