That we would not be able to mass-test our citizens even if it became the need of the hour tomorrow. An article on the website Scroll has done some math, which suggests that if government labs tested to their full capacity of 6,000 tests per day, India would run out of testing kits in less than four weeks. Now, we can only hope that is not the reason for testing less.

Another doubt raised by the same article by Scroll – here is the Ministry of Health’s own definition of “suspect cases” of coronavirus – it says those with severe respiratory illnesses, that cannot be explained by any other cause must be considered as “suspect cases” for COVID-19 even if they do not have any travel or contact history.

But, as government health officials have said repeatedly to the media – so far they are not testing anyone without a travel and contact history. Are they taking a big risk by NOT following their own guidelines?

Yes, so far our numbers are not spiking. Most states have shut down several public spaces. India has quarantined itself from all foreign entry, massive awareness campaigns are on, more testing kits are being sourced and all of this together should help.

But, our coronavirus testing strategy – Yeh Jo India Hai Na, we all really hope we have got our Coronavirus Testing Strategy right.