India tests 1 million a day as Coronavirus tally exceeds 3 million 

India’s COVID-19 tally on Saturday night topped three million just two weeks after it crossed the two million mark. 

On Saturday morning, health ministry data showed a record single-day spike of 69,874 new cases and a total death toll of 55,794 – 945 deaths in just 24 hours. 

India is the third worst-hit nation in terms of COVID-19 cases after the US and Brazil.

However, in a serious bid to contain the spread of the virus, India has stepped up testing and has crossed the one million tests a day mark. 

India’s health ministry said in a statement on Saturday: “Early identification through aggressive testing, comprehensive surveillance and contact tracing along with focus on timely and efficient clinical treatment of patients have ensured speedy recovery. 

“Higher number of recoveries and declining fatality have shown that India’s graded and proactive strategy is delivering results on the field,” it added.

The government has said the country now has the capacity of carrying out over million tests for Covid-19 every day.

India is only the third country, behind Brazil and the United States, to record more than three million infections. The US has almost 5.7 million and Brazil has 3.5 million, according to the coronavirus tracker of Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University.

Globally, the number of infections has climbed to over 26 million and 803,499 deaths have been reported.