ICMR tests 32K new samples, total COVID positive cases at 14,378; death toll hits 480

India reported 1,443 new cases of coronavirus on Friday, as per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. According to the latest update, the number of total cases in the country has climbed to 14,378, while the death toll stands at 480.

READ: ICMR Asks States To Use Rapid Antibody Tests For Surveillance In COVID-19 Hotspots

Spike in cases

On Friday evening, the Indian Council for Medical Research released data stating that 3.35 lakh tests had been conducted till 9 pm, of which 14,098 people had tested positive. The Council conducted 31,083 tests on Friday, and reported 1,443 positive cases of the virus. The Council has been testing at the rate of roughly 9% of the total tests every day.

READ: CDSCO Gives Nod To Convalescent Plasma Therapy Clinical Trial In COVID-19 Patients

ICMR has asked states to use rapid antibody tests for surveillance in COVID-19 hotspots underlying that the old standard frontline test for novel coronavirus diagnosis is a real-time PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) based molecular test, which is aimed at early virus detection.

In a letter to all chief secretaries and principal secretaries (health) of States, ICMR Director General Dr. Balram Bharagava listed the protocol for using the ‘rapid antibody test’ in hotspot area for epidemiological studies and surveillance.

India received five lakh rapid antibody testing kits from China on Thursday and these, health ministry officials said, are being distributed to the States for districts with a high burden of infection.

Chief of Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases at ICMR Dr Raman R Gangakhedkar on Thursday said that the rapid antibody test kits procured are not meant for early diagnosis, but "only for surveillance and trend checking".

READ: Kerala Likely To Relax Lockdown In Some Areas, Classifies Districts Based On COVID Threat

Simultaneously, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has given a go-ahead to interested institutes for conducting the clinical trial with convalescent plasma in COVID-19 patients, as per the protocol developed by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). It said that the ICMR has given a list of institutes to CDSCO which have shown interest in the conduct of the said trial.

The country is currently in the second phase of the nationwide lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 14 and will go on till May 3.

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