New Delhi, April 14: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday took a dig at government and said India delayed the purchase of testing kits and is now critically short of them. Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, Gandhi asserted that mass testing is the key to fighting COVID-19, but India is nowhere in the game. "India delayed the purchase of testing kits & is now critically short of them. With just 149 tests per million Indians, we are now in the company of Laos (157), Niger (182) & Honduras (162). Mass testing is the key to fighting the virus. At present we are nowhere in the game", he tweeted.

On Monday, Gandhi had suggested that the government should isolate virus hotspots and allow business to reopen in other areas. He took a dig at the Centre for the blanket lockdown as the poor have suffered a lot. "The one-size-fit-all lockdown has brought untold misery and suffering to millions of farmers, migrant labourers, daily wagers and business owners. " he had tweeted.

Here's the tweet by Rahul Gandhi:

Here's Rahul Gandhi's Tweet Criticising Govt For Lockdown:

On April 4, Gandhi had said that India is still not testing enough people for COVID-19 and questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's move to make people clap and shine torches during the virus-enforced lockdown. “India is simply not testing enough to fight the COVID-19 disease. Making people clap & shining torches in the sky isn't going to solve the problem,” he had tweeted.

Here's the tweet:

The Congress MP also shared a graphic, according to which, India is conducting 29 tests per million population, compared to 7,622 tests by South Korea. Italy, most severely affected by the coronavirus, is conducting 7,122 tests while Germany is conducting 5,822 tests per million population. Pakistan, on the other hand, is conducting 67 tests and Sri Lanka is conducting 97 tests per million population, which is still more than India’s 29.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 14, 2020 04:11 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).