Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Can’t say India testing less, says ICMR; cases near 13,000

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Tracker India Live Updates: India's cases rise to 12,759; Congress leader Rahul Gandhi says lockdown like "a pause button", will not solve crisis; govt identifies 170 districts as 'hotspots'.

The ICMR said on Thursday the government was carrying out 24 tests for one positive case even as the coronavirus cases in India neared the 13,000 mark, including 420 deaths and 1,488 recoveries. "Japan tested 11.7 people per one positive; for Italy the number is 6.7, in US its 5.3; UK its 3.4. Here we do 24 tests for one positive. Can't say we are testing less," an ICMR official said. The ICMR also said rapid testing kits would not be used for diagnosis but for surveillance, especially in hotspots. In its daily briefing, the Health Ministry said over 10,500 isolation beds had been made available by the Railways and 325 districts in the country had no cases of the novel coronavirus. The government also said India received the much-awaited five lakh rapid COVID-19 testing kits from China on Thursday