With only 93 tests per million population, India features lower than many developing countries

Activists on Sunday got #TestKaroNa to trend on Twitter, following the success of their #DocsNeedGear campaign in highlighting the lack of protective gear for medical staff.

By late evening, almost 42,000 tweets had been posted with the hashtag, underlining a crucial medical aspect of the fight against the pandemic on a day Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged people to light lamps or torches to “defeat the despair”.

Actor couple Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal lent their voice to the campaign. “I really feel the testing needs to get ahead of its game here. Here’s hoping that all the states work in unison,” Fazal tweeted.

“Please please we need a little more order. We are barely testing people. No harm in a solidarity show but use it to get the job done. #TestKaroNa.”

Chadha tweeted: “The only way to beat this long term is to test more for #COVID2019! India #TestKaroNa.”

Several Twitter users shared India’s poor ranking in testing. With only 93 tests per million population, India features lower than many developing countries.

Civil rights activist Umar Khalid tweeted a report on Germany’s relative success in containing the coronavirus.

“Covid-19 hit Germany hard but it responded remarkably well. What is key to their success? A robust public health system & free tests on a mass scale,” he wrote.

“Germany tests around 350,000 people per week. We have tested a little over 100,000 in all. #TestKaroNa.”

Popular radio presenter Sayema Rahman tweeted: “Am very very confident that we, as a country, will be able to fight through #Covid19India but for that we need to do more and more testing. The more we test, the more we would be able to arrest it. #TestKaroNa.”

Politicians from the Congress, CPIML Liberation and other Opposition groups also shared statistics and news reports on the perils of testing just a few.

Hasiba Amin, head of the Congress’s digital team, tweeted: “We need to test more to be able to detect and stop the chain as soon as possible, before it goes out of control. Theatrics won’t help. Testing will. #TestKaroNa.”