-Livemint.com ICMR advises states not to use the testing kits for the next two days, saying it will issue an advisory after medical teams carry out field validation of the kits NEW DELHI: Test kits for the detection and surveillance of covid-19 cases in India that have apparently been found faulty had been procured by the Indian Council of Medical Research from China from Chinese vendors approved by Chinese authorities, a senior...

-The Hindu When testing is done for people within a cluster, the number of positive cases seem to be higher, and vice-versa Generally, the number of positive COVID-19 cases increases when the testing rate increases. However, this is not always the case, as data from Gujarat show. Who gets tested determines the number of positive cases more than how many get tested. In Tamil Nadu, the number of positive cases went up when...

-NDTV It is difficult to detect asymptomatic cases and they can be found out only after tracing the contacts of people who have beentested positive, the top scientist said, adding that testing everyone is almost impossible. New Delhi: 80 per cent of people with coronavirus in India are asymptomatic, or do not show symptoms of the infection, and this is matter of worry, a senior scientist at the country's top medical research...

-The Indian Express Last week, the ICMR brought out an advisory on pooled testing, ideally in districts where incidence of COVID-19 is low. Faced with criticism about insufficient testing and the reality of limited resources, India has decided go for pooled testing in districts where no cases have been reported. This would on the one hand give data on whether these really are zero-case districts, and on the other, save resources. * What...

-RuralIndiaOnline.org ASHA workers in Haryana’s Sonipat district have been pushed to the frontlines of the fight against Covid-19 in a later-than-last-minute attempt to control a pandemic – with no safety gear and very little training Sonipat, Haryana: “Now, we must visit at least 25 households every day, each house at least four times in a month,” Sunita Rani says, “to survey for the coronavirus.” She has been making these rounds for over...