India to double daily virus testing capacity by May 31

India is going to almost double its present daily capacity of conducting tests for coronavirus infection by the end of next month, said Health Minister Harsh Vardhan.

"We are going to increase the numbers of government labs to 300 and ramp up our present daily testing capacity of 55,000 to one lakh per day by 31st May, 2020," he said during a virtual meeting between health ministers of WHO member-countries last night.

Vardhan said India stands on "a better footing" in combating Covid-19 than the rest of the world "because of the valuable and sincere services of our corona warriors," reports our New Delhi correspondent.

Referring to the active surveillance efforts made by government agencies to monitor potential victims or carriers of the disease, he said "we know the enemy and its whereabouts. We are able to check this enemy through community surveillance, issuance of various advisories, cluster containment and dynamic strategy."

Meanwhile, parts of India have recorded dramatic falls in mortality rates after a nationwide lockdown was imposed to fight the new coronavirus, suggesting there has not been an undetected surge in virus-related deaths.

All over the world, mortality rates are being scrutinised to determine the true impact of the coronavirus, which emerged in China late last year and is known to have infected more than 2.7 million people globally, with over 190,000 deaths.

While death rates in some countries have risen sharply in recent weeks, in India the opposite seems to be happening, at least in some places, leaving hospitals, funeral parlours and cremation sites wondering what is going on, reports Reuters.

"It's very surprising for us," said Shruthi Reddy, chief executive officer of Anthyesti Funeral Services, which operates in the eastern city of Kolkata and the southern tech hub of Bengaluru.