Over five million RT-PCR tests for COVID-19 conducted in India till Tuesday

New Delhi, Jun 9 () The number of RT-PCR tests for detection of COVID-19 in India crossed the five million mark on Tuesday, officials from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said.

The number of coronavirus cases shot up to 2,66,598 in the country.

A total of 50,30,700 samples have been tested till June 9 in the country with 1,41,682 samples being tested in the last 24 hours till 9 AM, according to ICMR officials.

The testing capacity has been increased to 1.4 lakh per day through 553 government and 231 private laboratories. The capacity is being further raised to 2 lakh samples per day, sources said.

The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 7,466 and the number of cases climbed to 2,66,598 in the country after it registered 266 fatalities and a record single-day spike of 9,987 cases till Tuesday 8 AM, according to the Union Health Ministry data. PLB RT