Maharashtra has conducted over 10-lakh Covid-19 tests in the State so far, the Chief Minister’s office said on Thursday.

“Maharashtra has conducted over 10 lakh Covid-19 tests in the State. As we ‘Chase the Virus’ we will continue to Trace, Test, Treat,” the CMO said in a tweet.

Maharashtra is the worst affected State in the country. As the number of Covid-19 cases in the country crossed the 6 lakh mark today, Maharashtra has reported over 1.8 lakh confirmed cases so far.

The State recently ramped up testing across cities, primarily in Mumbai, which has reported the highest number of infections.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) last week launched its Universal Testing mission in a bid to increase testing.

Under the Universal Testing mission, BMC will procure one lakh testing kits to screen people in high-risk areas and government-run hospitals. These kits will also be used for emergency or trauma cases and for pregnant women heading into delivery rooms.

“In order to achieve #MissionZero, @mybmc has now launched 'Mission Universal Testing' 1 lakh antigen testing kits designed to provide results in 30 min will be made available at our hospitals and to all high-risk contacts quarantined in our CCC's,” BMC tweeted from their official account.

The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) had earlier launched its Mission Zero, a rapid action plan to break the chain of Covid-19 in high-risk areas.

Under the revised strategy for the eastern and western suburbs of Mumbai, it had commenced door-to-door screening of residents, to check symptoms associated with the infection.

Apart from testing, other initiatives to curb the spread of the pandemic in the State include experimenting with plasma therapy. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday inaugurated the world's largest plasma therapy trial centre in Nagpur, making the state the first in the country to experiment extensively with plasma therapy for Covid-19, according to an official press release.

The State has also extended its lockdown to July 31, with stricter measures, especially in cities that have reported a higher number of infections.

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