With testing being ramped up to identify COVID-19 patients, the efficacy of China-made rapid antibody blood test kits has come under scanner with Rajasthan on Tuesday flagging their “inaccurate results”, prompting the apex medical research body ICMR to ask states to stop these tests for two days for further validation. While the nationwide tally of confirmed infections neared 19,000 with new cases reported from various states and the death toll crossed 600, the Union Health Ministry officials also said the recovery rate has improved to 17.5 per cent and a record number of 705 patients were cured and discharged on Monday itself.
Global coronavirus deaths top 170,000:
The coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 170,000 peopleglobally, close to two thirds of them in hardest-hit Europe, according to anAFP tally Tuesday at 0935 GMT. In total, 170,226 people have died from thevirus around the world, including 106,737 in Europe. With 42,364 deaths, theUnited States has the highest mortality rate, followed by Italy with 24,114fatalities and Spain’s 21,282. France has 20,265 deaths and Britain 16,509.