India has come a long way in its fight against the COVID-19 outbreak since February 2020, said the Center on June 25, 2020.
The Center made this statement as it informed the public about the testing measures across the nation.
Recalling the capacity enhancement, the Union Health Ministry said they have successfully reached the milestone of 2 lakh tests/day.
In a tweet, the Health Minister Harshavardhan said that they have run 75,60,782 Covid-19 tests in the country to date, with 2,07,871 in the last 24 hours alone.
The number of government-approved labs has increased to 1000, including 730 government-run and the remaining 270 under the private sector.
The ministry officials say that this was achieved in line with the PM’s Atmanirbhar Bharat program to build self-reliant India.
“In Jan 2020, the entire requirement of COVID-19 swabs was imported. Today, more than 2 lakh swabs (are) produced every day by domestic manufacturers,” the Health Ministry informed.
Explaining about self-reliant capacity building, the Ministry said the country now has 15 indigenous manufacturers of COVID-19 testing kits.
“#Atmanirbhar Bharat Reinforced. From dependence on imported testing kits to the creation of indigenous manufacturing capacity of testing kits, 15 indigenous manufacturers at present,” the Ministry said.
Another notable achievement in the country during the COVID-19 crisis is the development of medical ventilators.
The PM Cares Fund has allocated Rs. 2,000 crores for the manufacturing of 50,000 ‘Made in India’ ventilators to government hospitals treating COVID-19 patients across states and UTs.
The state-run Bharat Electronics Ltd. alone is making 30,000 ventilators, of which, 2,923 are ready, and 1,340 have been delivered to the states.
Maharashtra (275) is the highest recipient, followed by Delhi (275), Gujarat (175), Bihar (100), Karnataka (90), and Rajasthan (75).
An additional 14,000 ventilators are expected to be delivered by the end of June 2020.
In another significant milestone, India has emerged as the second-largest manufacturer of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits.
