17,615 Indians tested positive for Covid-19: ICMR

New Delhi: The number of total Covid-19 positive cases in India as risen up to 17,615 as per latest data released by the ICMR.

The release said "Today, on 19 April 2020, till 9 pm, 27,824 samples have been reported. Of these, 1,135 were positive for SARS-CoV-2."

Also Read:Odisha Fights Coronavirus: 13 Teams Formed For COVID-19 Sample Collection In Bhubaneswar

As per ICMR a "total of 4,01,586 samples from 3,83,985 individuals have been tested as on 19 April 2020, till 9 PM. 17,615 individuals have been confirmed positive among suspected cases and contacts of known."

ICMR #COVID19 testing update

Total samples tested : 4,01,586
Samples tested on April 19 : 27,824#coronavirusinindia#IndiaFightsCoronapic.twitter.com/9aSt4jWy02

— OTV (@otvnews) April 19, 2020

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Sunday asserted that doubling rate of Covid-19 cases has increased from three days before the imposition of lockdown in March to 9.7 days now.

"The rate of growth of new cases has been steadying for a while. As per the data received today by 8 a.m., over the past seven days, the doubling rate is 7.2 days, for the past 14 days it is 6.2, and over past 3 days it stands at 9.7. Before the lockdown, India's doubling rate was about 3 days," Harsh Vardhan said.

Also Read:COVID-19 Sample Tests: Odisha At 10th, Delhi Tops Per Million Chart!

The Health Minister said that the doubling rate is lower despite the fact that number of tests done every day have increased by almost 14 times.