India asks states to ramp up testing as Covid-19 cases climb

MUMBAI: India’s federal government asked states to identify emergency hotspots and ramp up-testing for Covid-19, after the country recorded its highest daily case count since September, a Reuters tally showed on Friday.

There were 6,050 new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, the federal health ministry said on Friday, continuing a sharp upward trend since a lull last year. At a meeting to review the degree to which the states are prepared, health minister Mansukh Mandaviya asked them to ramp up genome testing and conduct mock drills in hospitals, a government statement said.