New Delhi
The health ministry said 3,46,459 coronavirus tests were conducted in a single day on Monday and claimed the country crossed the 1-crore milestone. However, the data shared by the Indian Council of Medical Research differed sharply from the ministry data. As per ICMR, the highest-ever tests carried in a single day stood at 2,62,679.
When told the ministry had already put a much higher figure, ICMR sources said the single day count of tests at much higher rate of 3,46,459, they insisted their data was accurate. While denying the health ministry's claim of the single day tests, the ICMR, however, corrected its own figures to back the ministry's milestone by giving a total of the cumulative tests to 1.02 crore on Tuesday and 1,04,73,771 on Wednesday.
The ministry on Wednesday said a total of 7.42 lakh persons have been found infected with the dreaded disease so far, as many as 22,752 in the tests carried out since Tuesday. There were 478 deaths in the past 24 hours, raising the nationwide death toll to 20,642.
The recovery rate improved further by 0.40% over the previous day to hit 61.53% of the total infected as 4.57 lakh patients have been cured and discharged from hospitals, 16,882 of them in the past 24 hours while the patients under active treatment in hospitals rose to 2.65 lakh, with 5387 added in the past 24 hours. Amid surging cases, the ministry said it has roped in specialist doctors from AIIMS to provide expert guidance and knowledge support on Covid to doctors manning ICUs in state hospitals, to reduce the fatality rate.
The doctors will provide guidance on effective clinical management of coronavirus infected patients in the ICUs of different state hospitals through tele/video consultation, it said.
