Health officials collect a swab sample from a man in Hyderabad. (File photo: AFP)
Coronavirus: India sets up testing facilities in major cities as outbreak continues
As India recorded nearly 50,000 fresh cases of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi prepared to launch facilities in three major cities to significantly ramp up testing capacity.
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The 49,931 cases reported on Monday brought India’s tally to beyond 1.4 million. India has the world’s third-highest caseload after the United States and Brazil.
The 32,771 reported deaths from the disease in India, however, mark a far lower fatality rate than in the other two countries.
Modi’s office says the testing facilities that will begin operating on Monday will help authorities track the virus.
They will be put in Noida, a suburb of the capital New Delhi, and in the cities of Mumbai and Kolkata.
Each is capable of analyzing as many as 10,000 tests per day.
India’s chief medical research agency says the country tested about 515,000 samples for COVID-19 on Sunday.
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