From the start, India’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has been handicapped by the lack of adequate testing. In fact, unlike other countries, it didn’t ramp up testing even after imposing a draconian nationwide lockdown in late March, although it was clear by then that aggressive testing was crucial to containing the spread of the virus.
India has tested just over 38 lakh samples for coronavirus so far, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research, the agency overseeing the country’s response to the pandemic. That’s 2,763 tests per million, among the lowest testing rates in the world. By April 30, over a month after the lockdown came into effect, India had tested about only 8,30,201 samples. Though the testing capacity has since been enhanced to over a lakh per day, it remains quite low compared to most major countries. And, according to epidemiologists and community health experts, inadequate testing is one of the key reasons why coronavirus infections continue to rise sharply despite two months of the lockdown. As of noon on June 1, India had recorded 1,90,535 infections, with 5,394 deaths.
