According to the ICMR, the testing capacity of government and private labs in the country stands at 3 lakh tests per day

Over 1.65 lakh Covid-19 tests were conducted in India over the 24-hour period till Thursday morning - the highest number of tests conducted by laboratories across the country on a single day.

1,65,412 tests of coronavirus were conducted, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said on Thursday, taking the total number of tests conducted so far to 62,49,668.

According to the ICMR, the testing capacity of government and private labs in the country has already been increased to 3 lakh tests per day.

India on Thursday reported 12,881 new cases and 334 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to the latest update from the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. With this, the country’s overall count has gone up to 3,66,946, including 12,237 fatalities.

With 1,94,324 patients having been cured so far, the recovery rate has further improved to 52.95% and the recoveries/deaths ratio now stands at 94.07%.

Currently, 1,60,384 active cases are under medical supervision.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Thursday said that as per the new testing protocol approved by ICMR, testing for Covid-19 will be done from today onwards as per the new Rapid Antigen methodology.

“This technique will be faster and cheaper, 169 testing centers set up in the National Capital. Priority for the supply of kits will be given to Delhi,” the union minister said on Twitter.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Wednesday asked states to make full use of the expanded Covid-19 testing capacity stating that saving lives is a top priority as India recorded a spike of 2,003 coronavirus deaths after Maharashtra and Delhi added earlier fatalities not attributed to the disease.

PM Modi also called for fighting the stigma associated with the novel coronavirus and that people should be assured there is no need to panic if somebody has contracted the infection as the number of recovered patients has also been rising.