India is in a “better position than other countries” regarding the coronavirus outbreak, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday as the country recorded close to 50,000 new cases for the second straight day. Speaking at a virtual programme to mark the opening of the “high throughput” COVID-19 testing facilities in Noida, Mumbai and Kolkata, PM Modi said the death rate in India from coronavirus is far lower than that of the other large nations. “The recovery rate is better than most countries and already getting better,” he added.
“The world is praising us because of the efforts of the foot soldiers. We don’t lack awareness,” the Prime Minister said.
The country, he said, has taken big strides to set up infrastructure and now needs to “strengthen demand-supply chains in the block, village and zilla levels”.
“We want to save each and every Indian,” the Prime Minister said, adding that the country now has more than 11,000 COVID facilities and more than 11 lakh isolation beds.
“What India did with PPE, masks, test kits, it is a massive success story. At one point, India didn’t manufacture a single PPE kit. Now it is the world’s second largest manufacturer. Over 1,200 manufacturers are making PPE kits within six months. Ove three lakh N-95 masks are being made in India today. Three lakh ventilators can now be produced every year,” he said.
The new “high throughput” testing centres are located at the National Institutes of the Indian Council of Medical Research at Kolkata, Noida and Mumbai.
The Prime Minister said these hi-tech state-of-the-art testing facilities will boost the testing capacity by almost 10,000 a day in each of the three cities, which are among the hotspots of the disease.
Mumbai already has the maximum number of coronavirus cases in the country. The numbers in Kolkata are rapidly rising too. Noida is the big testing centre in western Uttar Pradesh.
An increase in the number of tests in these areas will lead to early detection and help control the spread of the virus.
The Prime Minister, however, added that these labs will not be limited to testing for coronavirus. In future, they will also be used for tests for Hepatitis B and C, HIV, Dengue and several other diseases.
