Madhya Pradesh is the fifth Indian state to report 1,000 COVID-19 cases

By reporting 133 cases today, Madhya Pradesh has taken its tally to 1,120 and become the fifth Indian state--and the fastest--to detect more than 1,000 COVID-19 cases.

India now has detected 12,759 COVID-19 cases, as of 5 p.m. on April 16. Maharashtra, which has reported 23% of all cases in India, has the highest number, followed by Delhi with 1,578 cases (12%).

Assam, which has the most cases in the northeast (33), has reported its first recoveries (5) today. All the states in northeastern India have detected a case except Sikkim. A case earlier reported to be from Nagaland has been shifted to Assam.

There are 27 districts where no new COVID-19 cases have been detected in the last 14 days. Mahe in Puducherry has not reported any in the past 28 days, said Lav Agarwal, joint secretary of the health ministry.

Tamil Nadu (22 districts) has the most districts that have large COVID-19 outbreaks, as per the health ministry’s list of hotspots in the country. It is followed by Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan (11 districts each).

Until April 15, 290,401 samples were tested in India. On April 15, 30,043 were tested of which 26,331 were in the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) network and 3,712 in private centres, said Raman Gangakhedkar of the ICMR.

“Working in one shift, more than 42,400 samples can be tested per day; if we work in two shifts, we will be able to test more than 78,200 COVID-2019 samples per day,” he added about the testing capacity in ICMR centres.

Half a million rapid antibody testing kits have arrived in India. These are not for early diagnosis but for surveillance of hotspots, ICMR noted.

By 9 p.m. on April 15, India had tested 274,599 samples from 258,730 people. Of these, 11,297 individuals (4.1%) have been confirmed positive, an April 15 ICMR press release noted.

(Compiled by Sheehari Paliath)