New Delhi, April 12: The first consignment of COVID-19 kits from China will arrive in India on April 15. With the arrival of these rapid test kits, coronavirus testing will be increased in the country. Raman R Gangakhedkar, head scientist of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), gave this information during Health Ministry’s press briefing on COVID-19 crisis. MyLab Discovery's First 'Made In India' COVID-19 Test Kit Gets Commercial Approval.

These rapid test kits will be useful in combating coronavirus as results of samples will be out within 30 minutes. According to reports, the India had placed an order of four lakh testing kits with China. However, on Sunday, the kits that were meant for India were transported to the United States as the number of cases are increasing in this country at an alarming rate. Drive-through Covid-19 Testing Centres Launched in Mumbai.

ANI's Tweet:

In India, over 150,000 sample were tested for COVID-19 till April 11. According to a report published in Business Standard, The number of tests conducted has grown almost four times since April 1 to an average 15,000 daily in the past five days. The infection rate is reportedly higher in Tamil Nadu as compared to other states. As per the report, in Tamil NAdi, 9.8 percent of people tested positive for coronavirus out of the the total sample taken for testing.

In India, the number of coronavirus cases crossed 9,000 on Monday. Till now, 9,152 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19. The death toll also increased to 308 in the country. Over 800 people have been recovered from the deadly virus so far. Maharashtra is the worst-hit state. Around 2,000 people have been tested positive for coronavirus.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 13, 2020 05:00 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).