Testing 1.3 billion people neither possible nor feasible: Vardhan

New Delhi: Testing 1.3 billion people for COVID-19 is neither possible nor feasible, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said in an exclusive interview with IANS on Thursday.

Responding to a question on India's strategy and the status about testing, he said, "The current testing strategy is need-based and gives priority to individuals who are primarily at risk or have symptoms. It is revised regularly according to the evolving situation."

Speaking about the details of testing data and capacity the Health Minister said, "As on May 27, our testing capacity is 1,60,000 per day and we have done 32,44,884 tests till date. On May 26, itself, we have conducted 1,15,229 tests. If for a moment, we talk of repeated testing of 1.3 billion population to curb the disease, you would appreciate that this is not only a resource expensive exercise but also neither possible nor feasible." Harsh Vardhan said almost 80 per cent of the COVID-19 cases in India are asymptomatic or at best with very mild symptoms.

In an exclusive interview to IANS, the Health Minister said, "Even today, in almost 80 per cent of the cases of COVID-19, which are being reported in India, the patients tend to exhibit either nil or mild symptoms. These patients are mostly contacts of confirmed cases. Interestingly, had it not been for our contact tracing efforts, and if left to their own in isolation, these patients may not have even remembered or reported their infection."

NITI Aayog member V.K. Paul, here on Thursday, said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had recommended hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) as prophylaxis with full responsibility, and as per the clinical protocol the drug might be used for therapeutics also.

The World Health Organisation was not the only platform where the drug was being tried, he said responding to a media query on the government's stand on use of HCQ in the Covid-19 cases as WHO had suspended its solidarity trial on Tuesday.