Kolkata, July 22: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said that her government is planning to double its daily testing capacity for COVID-19 within the next one month. She also claimed that from August 15 onwards, the state government will test around 25,000 samples every day.

Addressing a virtual rally, the West Bengal CM said, "At present, we are testing around 13,000 samples per day. By August 15 we would try to conduct around 25,000 tests per day." As per details, West Bengal has conducted around 7.2 lakh tests till July 21. The state daily testing rate is about the threshold of 140 per million as it currently stands at 144 per million. Martyrs' Day Virtual Rally 2020: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee Attacks BJP, Says 'Outsiders Will Not Run the State'.

Requesting the people not to panic, Banerjee said, "We are going to increase the testing rate further over the next few days as a result of which the number of COVID-19 cases will also rise. There is no need to panic." Adding more, she said, "At present, the death rate in West Bengal is 2.5%. We are also going to reduce that. Only around 5% of the positive cases are severe."

According to a report, published by Hindustan Times, West Bengal tested 13,064 samples in 54 laboratories on Tuesday, which far behind than Maharashtra, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. All these states are conducting more than 36,000 tests daily on an average.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 22, 2020 10:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).