BENGALURU: On May 3, last Sunday, Karnataka registered the highest number of samples tested in a single day at 5,168. But through the week, the numbers have not gone anywhere close to that mark, except on Saturday (May 9), when it stood at 5,017. Otherwise, the number of samples tested has hovered between 4,200 and 4,900, breaking Karnataka’s pattern of steadily increasing the number of tests since April 1.
The state government started testing secondary contacts of Covid-19 patients to check the virus spread, leading to an increase in the number of tests as well as cases. While cases show a consistent spike, testing has seen a slight downward curve. Also, the number of samples awaiting results is piling up. The State COVID-19 war room daily analysis for May 10 revealed that results of 8,119 samples were still to come out as on Saturday.
From March 15 when 832 samples were tested, it took Karnataka 31 days to reach 1,518 tests on April 16 — nearly double the number of samples tested. But it took the state only eight days to further double it to 3,836 on April 24.
Ever since, Karnataka has steadily increased the number of samples tested per day to its highest of 5,168 on May 3 —with an exception of April 27 when only 2,721 samples were tested. But since May 3, the numbers have seen a slight but steady decline.
On Sunday, Tamil Nadu tested 13,367 samples, while its total samples tested so far stands at 2,43,037. Andhra Pradesh has so far tested 1,73,735. As per that state’s 10 am bulletin on May 10, it had tested 8,666 samples in the last 24 hours. Details of samples tested in Telangana were not available. Kerala, as per the bulletin on May 10, has so far tested 41,279 samples.
Karnataka, however, has tested 1,07,311 samples till date with a positivity rate of 1/100 tests, in line with Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. Karnataka’s testing rate as on May 10 stands at 1,687 per million population as against Andhra Pradesh’s 3,330 or Tamil Nadu’s 2,423. But it fares better than Telangana’s 551 per million population or Kerala’s 1,012.
