Kerala has done more coronavirus tests than other states. The Indian Council of Medical Research said it has conducted tests on 13,316 samples from 12,426 individuals for the COVID-19 virus till 10 am on Thursday. Among these, 168 individuals were confirmed positive for the coronavirus among suspected cases and contacts of known positive cases. The Union health ministry’s current testing criteria is limited to international travellers and their direct contacts. People who have acute respiratory illnesses, but have not travelled abroad in the last 14 days and have not been in contact with a person confirmed to have been infected with COVID-19 are considered “suspect cases”. Indian authorities have continued to defend the country’s restrictive testing policy, which has resulted in among the lowest testing rates in the world. Experts say such limited testing could lead to cases of community transmission, which cannot be traced to a known confirmed case, going undetected.
ICMR says 13,316 samples tested so far, 168 confirmed positive
