# covid-testing-latest-data-source-details

ISO code: AUS
Entity: Australia - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-27
Source label: Australian Government Department of Health
General source label: Australian Government Department of Health
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Source URL:
https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2020/10/coronavirus-covid-19-at-a-glance-27-october-2020-cover-image-for-coronavirus-covid-19-at-a-glance-27-october-2020.pdf

General source URL:
https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert/coronavirus-covid-19-current-situation-and-case-numbers

Detailed description:
We construct a time series of the cumulative number of tests performed to date using data provided by the Australian Government Department of Health through [daily health alerts](https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert/coronavirus-covid-19-current-situation-and-case-numbers) and [weekly epidemiological reports](https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/novel_coronavirus_2019_ncov_weekly_epidemiology_reports_australia_2020.htm).

The weekly epidemiological reports make it clear that the figures relate to diagnostic testing. It is unclear whether the reported figures include pending test results. It is also unclear when the first test was conducted, since we have not been able to find official data prior to 22 March 2020 (at which point 143,056 tests had been performed).

The daily health alerts have provided testing figures since 5 April 2020, whereas the weekly epidemiological reports have provided testing figures since 22 March 2020. In the daily health alerts, testing figures are reported within the "Coronavirus (COVID-19) at a glance" infographic. [View the entire collection of these infographics](https://www.health.gov.au/resources/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-at-a-glance-infographic-collection) dating back to 5 April 2020.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: AUT
Entity: Austria - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-27
Source label: Austrian Ministry for Health
General source label: Austria Health Ministry
Short description: The number of tests performed
Detailed description:
The Ministry for Health publishes daily updates of the COVID-19 situation at www.sozialministerium.at/Informationen-zum-Coronavirus/Neuartiges-Coronavirus-(2019-nCov).html, which include data on the cumulative number of tests performed to date. We construct a daily time series using Web Archive snapshots of these updates.

It is unclear whether the reported figures include pending test results.

A footnote explains that "The number 'testing' is the total number of all Covid tests carried out. The data for this are largely reported by the performing laboratories."

The same figures are also provided by the Ministry for Health in [this official dashboard](https://info.gesundheitsministerium.at/dashboard_Hosp.html?l=en).

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: BHR
Entity: Bahrain - units unclear
Date: 2020-10-28
Source URL: https://www.moh.gov.bh/COVID19
Source label: Ministry of Health
General source label: Bahrain Ministry of Health
General source URL: https://www.moh.gov.bh/COVID19
Short description:
The source reports the 'number of assessments' conducted. It is unclear whether this refers to the total number of tests conducted, or the number of people tested.

Detailed description:
The Bahrainian Ministry of Health publishes frequent updates on the number of confirmed cases, status of existing cases and number of assessments conducted.

These figures represent the cumulative tests to that given date. It is not clear whether this refers to the total number of tests conducted, or the number of people tested.

Using web archives we can construct a time-series of tests conducted over time based on these frequent updates. It is not clear when testing first began; data is only available from 5 March 2020 where it was reported that 5,334 tests had been conducted.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: BGD
Entity: Bangladesh - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: https://covid19bd.idare.io/
Source label: Government of Bangladesh
General source label: Government of Bangladesh
General source URL: https://covid19bd.idare.io/
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Government of Bangladesh provides the cumulative total number of tests performed on [an official page dedicated to COVID-19](https://covid19bd.idare.io/).

The Government of Bangladesh previously provided data on the total number of samples tested ("মোট পরিক্ষাকৃত নমুনার সংখ্যা") to date in [an official dashboard](https://corona.gov.bd/). The full time series of samples tested could be downloaded in the [detailed dashboard](https://covid19.cramstack.com/), which dated back to 4 March 2020. This dashboard became unavailable in late September 2020.

It is not clear whether the reported figures include tests of which the results are pending.


ISO code: BLR
Entity: Belarus - tests performed
Date: 2020-09-29
Source URL: http://minzdrav.gov.by/ru/sobytiya/u-belarusi-na-29-verasnya-vypisanyya-74-tys-320-patsyenta/
Source label: Belarus Ministry of Health
General source label: Belarus Ministry of Health
General source URL: http://minzdrav.gov.by/
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Belarus Ministry of Health provides daily press releases that report the cumulative number of tests conducted to date. It is unclear whether the reported figures include pending tests.

Prior to 14 April 2020, the Ministry reported imprecise testing figures (e.g. "...more than 64 thousand tests..."). We include these imprecise figures so that our time series extends back to 3 March 2020.

The earliest reported figure that we have been able to find is from 3 March 2020, at which point approximately 5,000 cumulative tests were reported. The number of tests are cumulative since late January 2020, but the press releases do not specify the exact date on which the first test was conducted.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: BEL
Entity: Belgium - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-26
Source URL: https://epistat.sciensano.be/Data/COVID19BE_tests.csv
Source label: Sciensano (Belgian institute for health)
General source label: Sciensano (Belgian institute for health)
General source URL: https://epistat.wiv-isp.be/covid/
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
Sciensano provides a daily time series of the number of tests conducted per day, which is updated retrospectively as new data becomes available each day.

According to the [dataset codebook](https://epistat.sciensano.be/COVID19BE_codebook.pdf), dates for new testing figures correspond to the date of laboratory diagnosis (or when not available, date of sampling). 

It is unclear whether the testing figures include technologies other than PCR tests. In a communication on 3 April 2020, Sciensano indicates that an antigen test made by Coris Bioconcept may now be used for COVID-19 detection. The communication states that positive antigen test results do not have to be confirmed by a PCR test, but that negative or doubtful cases must be confirmed by a PCR test.

Official figures reported in Sciensano's daily epidemiological bulletins do not help to clarify whether non-PCR tests are included in the daily time series figures. For example, as of 10 May 2020, the [official time series dataset](https://epistat.sciensano.be/covid/covid19_historicaldata.html) reported a cumulative total of 465,201 tests performed between 1 March and 9 May 2020. However, the epidemiological bulletin for [10 May 2020](https://covid-19.sciensano.be/sites/default/files/Covid19/COVID-19_Daily%20report_20200510%20-%20FR.pdf) states that 325,796 cumulative tests had been performed by laboratories between the beginning of March and 9 May 2020, while an additional 240,305 tests had been performed through the national testing platform (566,101 total tests).

The bulletin indicates that these figures include both PCR and antigen tests, suggesting that the large discrepancy between the 465,201 figure and the combined 566,101 figure may be due to the fact that the official time series data only includes PCR tests, whereas the official bulletin figures include both PCR and antigen tests. However, we have been unable to find official documentation from Sciensano that resolves this ambiguity.


ISO code: BOL
Entity: Bolivia - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-26
Source label: Ministry of Health
General source label: Ministry of Health
General source URL: https://www.minsalud.gob.bo/
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Source URL:
https://minsalud.gob.bo/4857-sube-a-140-952-el-numero-de-casos-positivos-de-coronavirus-tras-reportarse-99-contagios-nuevos

Detailed description:
Official testing data from the Bolivian Ministry of Health is reported in daily briefs [on their website](https://www.minsalud.gob.bo/). The briefs often (but do not always) provide a breakdown of the cumulative number of confirmed, suspected, and negative (also called discarded) tests to date. We measure the total number of tests performed to date as the sum of the number of confirmed and negative tests.

Because of the way the daily briefs report the number of negative tests ("pruebas negativas") alongside the number of positive cases ("casos positivos"), it may be the case that the number of tests performed is equivalent to the number of people tested.

The reported number of tests performed may include non-PCR tests. [Official protocol for COVID-19 laboratory diagnosis](https://www.minsalud.gob.bo/component/jdownloads/download/30-guias-manejo-covid/445-protocolo-para-el-diagnostico-de-laboratorio-en-el-marco-de-la-emergencia-sanitaria-por-covid-actualizado?Itemid=646) (updated in May 2020) indicate that antibody (non-PCR) tests are an important aspect of the country's screening and diagnostic process (e.g. see pages 24-27 and annex 2). But the source does not explicitly state whether these non-PCR tests are used to confirm or discard suspected cases without a corresponding PCR test result.

As of 5 August 2020, the most recent daily briefs consistently report testing figures in terms of the cumulative number of tests ("pruebas") performed. However, in the initial months of the COVID-19 outbreak, the daily briefs previously reported testing figures using inconsistent terminology such as samples (“muestras”) tested, people who have undergone tests (”personas, que fueron sometidas a pruebas”), and tests ("pruebas") performed. It does not appear that this inconsistent use of terminology reflects a substantive change in the reported figures, since there are no corresponding large breaks in the time series.

In 10 briefs the number of negative tests was not reported, preventing us from calculating a total for that date. For these dates with missing official data, we use data provided in this [unofficial GitHub repository](https://github.com/mauforonda/covid19-bolivia), which we have cross-referenced against the official data for all dates.

Our data for this series is sourced from a non-official repository of official data. As explained in our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#do-you-rely-on-any-non-official-sources) we regularly audit the accuracy of this repository against direct official channels. Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: BRA
Entity: Brazil - tests performed
Date: 2020-09-19
Source URL: https://www.conasems.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/3.-a-CIT_Epidemiologia.pdf
Source label: Ministry of Health
General source label: Brazil Ministry of Health
General source URL: https://www.saude.gov.br/noticias/agencia-saude
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Ministry of Health press releases published on its website intermittently include figures for the number of PCR tests carried out for COVID-19.

The most recent figures explicitly relate to the number of PCR tests carried out in public laboratories. Two earlier press releases – for [20 April 2020](https://www.saude.gov.br/noticias/agencia-saude/46768-chega-ao-pais-mais-500-mil-testes-de-biologia-molecular) and [7 April 2020](https://www.saude.gov.br/noticias/agencia-saude/46707-saude-ja-distribuiu-quase-1-milhao-de-testes-para-coronavirus) are not explicit as to whether the figures they provide include or excluded private laboratories. The two April releases imply that the figure provided relates to the cumulative since 16 February 2020, stating that 'Tests for coronavirus began to be carried out from February 16 in public and private laboratories'.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).

Brazil includes positive antibody tests in their figures for confirmed cases. Our testing figures—which exclude antibody tests—are not an appropriate comparison in these instances: on this basis there could be more cases than tests, which is not possible. For this reason, we do not calculate the positive rate or number of tests per confirmed case for Brazil.


ISO code: BGR
Entity: Bulgaria - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-28
Source URL: https://coronavirus.bg/
Source label: Bulgaria COVID-10 Information Portal
General source label: Bulgaria COVID-19 Information Portal
General source URL: https://coronavirus.bg/
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
Bulgaria's official COVID-19 information portal provides irregular updates of the cumulative number of 'PCR tests done'.

Using web archives we reconstruct the testing time series starting from 11 April 2020. We cannot say with certainty when testing began, only that the earliest observation available to us begins from 11 April 2020. For 19 April 2020, we take the figure provided in Bulgaria's [COVID-19 dashboard](https://coronavirus.bg/arcgis/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/ecacd239ee7e4fba956f7948f586af93) as no snapshot was available using web archives. The test figures provided in the dashboard match the figures provided by the information portal for all other dates available.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: CAN
Entity: Canada - people tested
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection.html
Source label: Government of Canada
General source label: Government of Canada
General source URL: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection.html
Short description: The number of people tested.
Detailed description:
The Government of Canada provides daily updates of the COVID-19 outbreak [here](https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection.html), which report the cumulative number of people tested to date. 

We construct a daily time series of the cumulative number of people tested to date using [Web Archive snapshots](http://web.archive.org/web/*/https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection.html) of these daily updates. The figures include positive and negative test results, while excluding pending test results.

It is unclear from the source whether or not the cumulative figure repeatedly counts people that have gone through more than one round of testing over the course of the pandemic. Since we derive a count of the daily number of people tested from the change in this cumulative number, if people undergoing multiple rounds of testing are not counted repeatedly in the cumulative, repeat testers will not appear in our daily testing figures.

The figures relate to diagnostic testing completed in laboratories.

We only report data since 18 March 2020 due to a large jump in the time series that occurred between 17 March 2020 ([1,018 people tested](http://web.archive.org/web/20200318193441/https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection.html)) and 18 March 2020 ([53,975 people tested](http://web.archive.org/web/20200319151005/https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection.html)). We suspect this jump was the result of a backlog in tests waiting to be processed, but the Government of Canada website does not provide an explanation. For comparability over time, we therefore exclude data prior to 18 March 2020.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: CHL
Entity: Chile - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: https://www.gob.cl/coronavirus/cifrasoficiales/#reportes
Source label: Ministry of Health
General source label: Government of Chile Coronavirus information page
General source URL: https://www.gob.cl/coronavirus/cifrasoficiales/#reportes
Short description: The number of tests performed
Detailed description:
The Government of Chile publishes testing data for private and public medical establishments on its live COVID-19 dashboard. We collect our data from the graph "Número de exámenes PCR realizado diariamente" that displays the number of PCR tests performed daily.


ISO code: CHN
Entity: China - tests performed
Date: 2020-08-06
Source URL: http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2020-08/06/content_5532720.htm
Source label: National Health Commission
General source label: National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China
General source URL: http://en.nhc.gov.cn/news.html
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China has only mentioned the number of nucleic acid tests performed in entire country in two occasions. We therefore include these data points in our time series, but no data is available since 8 August 2020, and no daily number of tests can be derived.


ISO code: COL
Entity: Colombia - samples tested
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: https://www.ins.gov.co/Noticias/Paginas/Coronavirus.aspx#muestras
Source label: National Institute of Health
General source label: National Institute of Health
General source URL: https://www.ins.gov.co/Noticias/Paginas/Coronavirus.aspx
Short description: The number of samples tested.
Detailed description:
The Colombian National Institute of Health publishes a dashboard on COVID-19, updated daily. Page 4 of the embedded report includes a graph on "histórico de muestras" (sample history), with a cumulative number of "muestras procesadas" (samples processed).

The report says that "the daily sample chart is based on information loaded by all laboratories that perform SARS-CoV2 diagnostics. At this time, some laboratories are completing the dates for conducting the tests, so the graph will vary as these data are completed."

Because of this, our time series does not include samples marked as "S.F." ("Sin Fecha") in the leftmost bar of the graph; these can represent a high number of samples (3867 as of 21 April 2020).

Colombia includes positive antibody tests in their figures for confirmed cases. Our testing figures—which exclude antibody tests—are not an appropriate comparison in these instances: on this basis there could be more cases than tests, which is not possible. For this reason, we do not calculate the positive rate or number of tests per confirmed case for Colombia.


ISO code: CRI
Entity: Costa Rica - people tested (incl. non-PCR)
Date: 2020-10-15
Source URL: https://observador.cr/covid19-estadisticas/
Source label: Ministry of Health
General source label: Costa Rican Ministry of Health
Short description: The number of people tested.
General source URL:
https://www.ministeriodesalud.go.cr/index.php/centro-de-prensa/noticias/741-noticias-2020/1532-lineamientos-nacionales-para-la-vigilancia-de-la-infeccion-por-coronavirus-2019-ncov

Detailed description:
The Costa Rican Ministry of Health provides daily updates that report confirmed cases, deaths and test results.

These updates state the daily number of people who have been tested – given as the number of confirmed cases (‘Confirma contagio’) and number of people with negative results (‘Descarta contagio’) (thus the figures do not include pending tests). We use these daily updates to construct a full time series of the cumulative number of persons tested to date. These figures have been collected and are made available for download by the news website [El Observador](https://observador.cr/covid19-estadisticas/), from which we take our data.

It is unclear from the source whether or not the cumulative figure repeatedly counts people that have gone through more than one round of testing over the course of the pandemic. Since we derive a count of the daily number of people tested from the change in this cumulative number, if people undergoing multiple rounds of testing are not counted repeatedly in the cumulative, repeat testers will not appear in our daily testing figures.

Daily testing figures are only available since 11 March 2020. We therefore do not know the first date of testing, or daily figures prior to this date.

For the number of new tests reported on 25 March 2020, we noticed a discrepancy between data published by El Observador and the official data reported by the Ministry of Health. We therefore replaced the number of discarded tests for that day (5) with the official number (65) (official reports: [24 March 2020](https://www.ministeriodesalud.go.cr/sobre_ministerio/prensa/img_cvd/img_datos_marzo_2020_14.jpeg), [25 March 2020](https://www.ministeriodesalud.go.cr/sobre_ministerio/prensa/img_cvd/img_datos_marzo_2020_15.jpeg)).

Prior to 24 July 2020, suspected COVID-19 cases in Costa Rica could only be confirmed via a positive PCR test result, as described in the [12 June 2020 national guidelines for COVID-19 surveillance](https://www.ministeriodesalud.go.cr/sobre_ministerio/prensa/docs/lineamientos_nacionales_vigilancia_infeccion_coronavirus_12062020_v14_vf.pdf). However, [revised guidelines published on 24 July 2020](https://www.ministeriodesalud.go.cr/sobre_ministerio/prensa/docs/lineamientos_nacionales_vigilancia_infeccion_coronavirus_v15_24072020.pdf) expand the definition of a confirmed COVID-19 case to allow for cases to be confirmed without a PCR test: 

"Confirmed case refers to one of the following 2 options:

Laboratory confirmed case: refers to a person who has had the virus that causes the COVID 19 disease regardless of its clinical signs and symptoms. This confirmation will be done by public and private laboratories that have RT-PCR capable of identifying SARS - CoV-2 and have an authorization from an external regulatory entity such as FDA or its equivalent duly authorized by the Ministry of Health as well as the National Center for Frankincense Virology.

By epidemiological link: persons residing at the address of a laboratory confirmed case who develop respiratory symptoms within 21 days after the first day of isolation. (For these people, it will not be necessary to carry out the PCR-RT test)" (translated)

For this reason, we do not know how many confirmed cases since 24 July 2020 have been confirmed via "epidemiological link" (i.e. without a PCR test). Hence, the time series we construct of the cumulative number of persons tested to date may include a number of confirmed cases that never received a PCR test.

This also means that our testing figures are not an appropriate comparison with cases in these instance. For this reason, we do not calculate the positive rate or number of tests per confirmed case for Costa Rica.

Our data for this series is sourced from a non-official repository of official data. As explained in our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#do-you-rely-on-any-non-official-sources) we regularly audit the accuracy of this repository against direct official channels. Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: CIV
Entity: Cote d'Ivoire - samples tested
Date: 2020-10-25
Source URL: https://www.facebook.com/Mshpci/posts/1737269099772110
Source label: Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene
General source label: Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene
General source URL: https://www.facebook.com/Mshpci
Short description: The number of samples tested.
Detailed description:
Since 13 April 2020, the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene publishes the cumulative total of samples taken in a daily post on its official Facebook page. For a small number of daily updates, only the daily change is stated; in these cases, we derive the cumulative total based on the previous day's cumulative total + daily change.

The updates use the words "samples taken" to describe these figures, which likely indicates that they include tests whose results are still pending.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: HRV
Entity: Croatia - people tested
Date: 2020-10-28
Source URL: https://www.koronavirus.hr/najnovije/ukupno-dosad-382-zarazene-osobe-u-hrvatskoj/35
Source label: Government of Croatia
General source label: Government of Croatia
General source URL: https://vlada.gov.hr
Short description: The number of people tested.
Detailed description:
The Government of Croatia provides daily updates of confirmed cases, deaths, and testing figures [here](https://www.koronavirus.hr). We construct a time series based on the cumulative figures reported in [web archives of the latest koronavirus.hr press release](https://web.archive.org/web/20200706160835/https://www.koronavirus.hr/najnovije/ukupno-dosad-382-zarazene-osobe-u-hrvatskoj/35). It is unclear whether the reported figures include tests for which the results are pending.

Prior to 24 March 2020, testing figures were reported in terms of "samples tested" (e.g. "Ukupno je 317 testiranih uzoraka..."). From 24 March to 6 May 2020, testing figures were reported in terms of "tests performed" (e.g. "Dosad je obavljeno ukupno 3.159 testiranja"). Since 6 May 2020 they have been reported in terms of "people tested" (e.g. "Dosad je testirano ukupno 41.053 osoba"). It does not appear that this change in terminology reflects a substantive change in the figures that are reported, since there are no large breaks in the time series around these changes in terminology.

The source provides data for both the cumulative number of people tested to date and the number of people tested in the last 24 hours. The daily change in the cumulative number of people tested to date equals the number of people tested in the last 24 hours, suggesting that the cumulative total will repeatedly count people that have undergone more than one round of testing over the course of the pandemic. However no further details were found at either source.

We have found testing data dating back to 3 March 2020, at which point 247 samples had been tested to date.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: CUB
Entity: Cuba - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-26
Source URL: https://covid19cubadata.github.io/#cuba
Source label: Ministry of Public Health
Notes: Made available on GitHub by covid19cubadata
General source label: Ministry of Public Health
General source URL: https://salud.msp.gob.cu
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Ministry of Public Health publishes data on [its official website](https://salud.msp.gob.cu), which is collected and republished by the COVID-19 Cuba Data project [in a dashboard](https://covid19cubadata.github.io/#cuba) and [on GitHub](https://github.com/covid19cubadata/covid19cubadata.github.io/). It includes a time series for the number of tests.

The context in which the figures are published suggests that the number of tests performed may be equivalent to the number of individuals tested. A breakdown into positive and negative results is given, along with a positive test rate. It is also unclear whether the reported figures include tests for which the results are pending.

Our data for this series is sourced from a non-official repository of official data. As explained in our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#do-you-rely-on-any-non-official-sources) we regularly audit the accuracy of this repository against direct official channels.


ISO code: CYP
Entity: Cyprus - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-26
Source URL: https://www.data.gov.cy/sites/default/files/CY%20Covid19%20Open%20Data_49.csv
Source label: Ministry of Health
General source label: Ministry of Health
General source URL: https://www.data.gov.cy/node/4617?language=en
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
Data for Cyprus is collected and posted by the Open Data Group, based on daily statistical data on the spread of COVID-19 disease in Cyprus, as announced on a daily basis by the Epidemiological Surveillance Unit of the Ministry of Health.

The dataset includes the date, daily numbers of tests performed, and total number of tests performed.


ISO code: CZE
Entity: Czech Republic - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-26
Source URL: https://onemocneni-aktualne.mzcr.cz/api/v1/covid-19/testy.csv
Source label: Ministry of Health
General source label: Ministry of Health
General source URL: https://onemocneni-aktualne.mzcr.cz/api/v1/covid-19
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Ministry of Health publishes a data set containing incremental and cumulative daily numbers of COVID-19 tests performed according to laboratory reports. It is updated daily and accessible in CSV and JSON format. No other information about the figures could be found.


ISO code: COD
Entity: Democratic Republic of Congo - samples tested
Date: 2020-10-08
Source URL: https://twitter.com/CMR_Covid19_RDC/status/1314639055435554817
Source label: DRC COVID-19 Pandemic Response Multisectoral Committee
General source label: DRC COVID-19 Pandemic Response Multisectoral Committee
General source URL: https://twitter.com/CMR_Covid19_RDC
Short description: The number of samples tested.
Detailed description:
The DRC COVID-19 Pandemic Response Multisectoral Committee publishes daily bulletins on [their official Twitter page](https://twitter.com/CMR_Covid19_RDC). These bulletins include the daily new samples tested ("échantillons testés"), but no cumulative total; thus it is unclear how many samples have been tested to date. No other information is provided about the reported testing numbers, such as whether they include pending or non-PCR tests.


ISO code: DNK
Entity: Denmark - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-26
Source URL: https://files.ssi.dk/Data-Epidemiologiske-Rapport-27102020-xxwa
Source label: Statens Serum Institut
General source label: Statens Serum Institut
Short description: The number of tests performed.
General source URL:
https://www.ssi.dk/sygdomme-beredskab-og-forskning/sygdomsovervaagning/c/covid19-overvaagning/arkiv-med-overvaagningsdata-for-covid19

Detailed description:
The Danish Statum Serum Institute provides epidemiological update reports on confirmed cases, deaths, testing and demographic details. An archive of .zip files is available [on its website](https://www.ssi.dk/sygdomme-beredskab-og-forskning/sygdomsovervaagning/c/covid19-overvaagning/arkiv-med-overvaagningsdata-for-covid19). Each contains a .csv file (Test_pos_over_time.csv) with the time series of daily ("Tested") and cumulative ("Tested_kumulativ") tests performed, going back to 27 January 2020.


ISO code: DOM
Entity: Dominican Republic - samples tested
Date: 2020-10-25
Source URL: https://www.msp.gob.do/web/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Boletin-COVID-19-no.221.pdf
Source label: Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance
General source label: Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance
General source URL: https://www.msp.gob.do/web/?page_id=6948#1586785071804-577a2da4-6f72
Short description: The number of samples tested.
Detailed description:
The Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance publishes daily bulletins that report the cumulative number of "processed samples" ("muestras procesadas") to date. The reported figures exclude pending test results. The first bulletin was published on 18 March 2020, at which point 88 samples had been tested to date.

Prior to 7 April 2020, the daily bulletins reported the cumulative number of discarded ("descartados") and confirmed ("casos confirmados") cases separately without a combined "samples processed" ("muestras procesadas") figure. For these bulletins, we compute the number of samples tested to date as the sum of the number of discarded and confirmed cases. Some bulletins after 7 April 2020 report the number of samples processed alongside the number of discarded and confirmed cases, providing validation that the number of samples processed is equivalent to the sum of the number of discarded and confirmed cases.


ISO code: ECU
Entity: Ecuador - people tested
Date: 2020-10-25
Source label: Government of Ecuador
Notes: Sum of confirmados and descartados
General source label: Government of Ecuador
General source URL: https://www.gestionderiesgos.gob.ec/informes-de-situacion-covid-19-desde-el-13-de-marzo-del-2020/
Short description: The number of people tested.
Source URL:
https://www.gestionderiesgos.gob.ec/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/INFOGRAFIA-NACIONALCOVID19-COE-NACIONAL-08h00-25102020.pdf

Detailed description:
The Government of Ecuador publish daily updates in the form of situation reports and summary infographics. These report the number and status of confirmed cases, deaths and number of samples tested. This data is available daily from 18 March 2020; reports and infographics prior to this date do not include the number of samples tested. But all figures are dated cumulative since 29 February 2020.

The source reports the number of confirmed ('confirmados') and negative ('descartados') cases, which we sum to get the number of cases tested. The mention of 'cases' suggests that people undergoing multiple rounds of testing over the course of the pandemic may be repeatedly counted. However, no further details are provided by the source.

On 24 April 2020, the number of tests suddenly jumped from 23,383 to 45,857, because of what we assume to be the inclusion of rapid tests ("pruebas rápidas"), as made clear by the subsequent infographic published on 27 April 2020. We therefore do not include the 24 April 2020 infographic in our time series; and from 27 April 2020 onwards, we include only PCR tests.

On 11 May 2020, the Government of Ecuador published a [report](https://www.gestionderiesgos.gob.ec/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/BP-VARIACIONES-INFOGRAFIA-No.-074-11052020.pdf) detailing "a reclassification of the records by identity card of the persons and not by the number of tests that have been carried out". This suggests the government is moving towards reporting figures on the number of people tested, where previously they reported the number of cases tested. The reclassification partially explains the fall in the cumulative total after 4 May 2020.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).

Ecuador includes positive antibody tests in their figures for confirmed cases. Our testing figures—which exclude antibody tests—are not an appropriate comparison in these instances: on this basis there could be more cases than tests, which is not possible. For this reason, we do not calculate the positive rate or number of tests per confirmed case for Ecuador.


ISO code: SLV
Entity: El Salvador - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-25
Source URL: https://covid-19-gis-hub-el-salvador-esri-sv.hub.arcgis.com/
Source label: Government of El Salvador
General source label: Government of El Salvador
General source URL: https://covid19.gob.sv/
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Government of El Salvador publishes an online dashboard that reports the cumulative number of tests performed to date ("pruebas COVID19 realizadas hasta hoy").

The official dashboard only provides a snapshot of the cumulative number of tests performed as of today, making it difficult to construct a historical time series. We construct a daily time series dating back to 10 April 2020 using the figures reported in [this unofficial dashboard](https://covid-19-gis-hub-el-salvador-esri-sv.hub.arcgis.com/), supplemented by figures reported on President Nayib Bukele's [official Facebook page](https://www.facebook.com/nayibbukele). We have cross-checked a sample of unofficial figures against figures reported on the President's Facebook page.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: EST
Entity: Estonia - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: https://www.koroonakaart.ee/en
Source label: Central Health Information System and Patient Portal
General source label: Estonian Health Board
General source URL: https://www.terviseamet.ee/et/koroonaviirus/koroonakaart
Short description: The number of tests performed ("Testide koguarv")
Detailed description:
The [Estonian Health Board (“Terviseamet”)](https://www.terviseamet.ee/en) is the source of and links to testing data visualized by Open Data Estonia on the [Koroonakaart dashboard](https://www.koroonakaart.ee/en). The dashboard contains a time series of tests per day and cumulative tests dating back to 25 February 2020, among other data. The Health Board provides [further description of the data](https://www.terviseamet.ee/et/koroonaviirus/avaandmed), including noting that past data may be revised if test results are retroactively corrected or new results are received.


ISO code: ETH
Entity: Ethiopia - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: https://www.covid19.et/covid-19/Home/DataPresentationByTable
Source label: Information Network Security Agency
General source label: Information Network Security Agency
General source URL: https://www.covid19.et/covid-19/Home/DataPresentationByTable
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The [Ethiopian Public Health Institute](https://www.ephi.gov.et) in collaboration with the [Ethiopian Ministry of Health](http://www.moh.gov.et) provides daily press releases that report the cumulative number of tests performed to date. The figures reported in these press releases are displayed in an [official dashboard](https://www.covid19.et/covid-19/Home/DataPresentationByTable) maintained by the [Information Network Security Agency](https://www.insa.gov.et/), which we use as our primary data source. 

The official dashboard provides testing figures since 13 March 2020. We have cross-checked a sample of the dashboard figures against the original press releases to ensure accuracy.

It is unclear whether the reported figures include tests for which the results are pending.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: FJI
Entity: Fiji - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-26
Source URL: http://www.health.gov.fj/covid-19-updates/
Source label: Fiji Ministry of Health & Medical Services
General source label: Fiji Ministry of Health & Medical Services
General source URL: http://www.health.gov.fj/covid-19-updates/
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Fiji Ministry of Health & Medical Services provides a series for the number of tests per day, the number of tests per week, and the cumulative number of tests conducted to date.

The source notes "Laboratory testing for COVID-19 in Fiji began on 28 January 2020 with samples shipped to the WHO collaborating center reference laboratory – the Victorian Infectious Disease Reference Laboratory (VIDRL) at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne, Australia. Local testing for COVID-19 started at the Fiji Centre for Disease Control (Fiji CDC) on 11 March 2020 using the gold standard method for COVID-19 testing – realtime RT-PCR. Samples are sent from health facilities around the country to Fiji CDC for testing."


ISO code: FIN
Entity: Finland - samples tested
Date: 2020-10-26
Source URL: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/d40b2aaf08be4b9c8ec38de30b714f26
Source label: Finnish Department of Health and Welfare
General source label: Finnish Department of Health and Welfare COVID-19 data dashboard
General source URL: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/d40b2aaf08be4b9c8ec38de30b714f26
Short description: The number of samples tested.
Detailed description:
The Finnish Department of Health and Welfare publishes a dashboard of confirmed cases, deaths and samples tested. The dashboard provides both daily and cumulative test numbers. We extract the complete daily time series using the [official API](https://thl.fi/fi/tilastot-ja-data/aineistot-ja-palvelut/avoin-data/varmistetut-koronatapaukset-suomessa-covid-19-).

Further descriptions of the testing data are provided [here](https://thl.fi/fi/web/infektiotaudit-ja-rokotukset/ajankohtaista/ajankohtaista-koronaviruksesta-covid-19/tilannekatsaus-koronaviruksesta). In this document it notes that:

- "Public and private sector laboratories report to THL (health authority) the number of samples tested per hospital district"
- "The actual number of infections in Finland is probably higher than reported, as not all mild symptoms have been tested so far and no information is available on the number of asymptomatic infections."
- "Coronavirus testing is performed in both the public and private sectors in several laboratories."

The data description notes that tests are being rationed and allocated according to the following strategy: "Samples are taken primarily from patients with severe symptoms of respiratory infection and from health and social care staff to ensure staff health and labor adequacy....Attention has also been paid to vulnerable groups of patients with some underlying disease and to those over 70 years of age."

This data series extends to the 30th January, when test figures were very low (73 tests per day). It is likely this is was the first day, or close to the first day of testing.


ISO code: FRA
Entity: France - people tested
Date: 2020-10-23
Source label: National Public Health Agency
General source label: National Public Health Agency
Short description: The number of people tested.
Detailed description:
Since 13 May 2020, the National Public Health Agency has replaced its previous weekly updates of the number of tests performed with a daily-updated file with the count of people tested, available on the French government's open data portal.

The source specifies that if several samples are reported for the same patient:
- The first date is selected for PCR tests with the same result (for example several negative tests);
- The first positive PCR test date is kept in case of discordant PCR tests.
This means that many people undergoing multiple rounds of testing are not counted repeatedly in this data. We therefore present the more accurate "tests performed" series as the main time series for France.

The data covers all results of test laboratories (RT-PCR) carried out by all city laboratories and hospitals concerning SARS-COV2. The source notes that "the time to report back tests can exceed 9 days in some cases. The indicators are adjusted daily according to the reception of the results."

This data does not allow us to publish any cumulative total, since no information is available on how many people had been tested prior to the first day of reporting.

Note that the positive rate published by the National Public Health Agency is calculated using a different method from our own estimate: it divides the number of positive cases by the number of people tested. Due to the issue of people undergoing multiple rounds of testing not being counted repeatedly in this number of people tested, we divide instead the number of positive cases by the number of tests performed. For this reason, the positive rate shown in our data will by definition be lower than the official estimate, but its trend over time will be the same.


ISO code: FRA
Entity: France - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-23
Source URL: https://geodes.santepubliquefrance.fr
Source label: National Public Health Agency
General source label: National Public Health Agency
General source URL: https://geodes.santepubliquefrance.fr
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
Since 13 May 2020, the National Public Health Agency publishes the number of tests in a daily-updated file, available on the French portal for public health data (Géodes).

The virological surveillance indicators come from the screening information system which feeds back data from PCR tests carried out by all city laboratories and hospitals concerning SARS-COV2.

These data exclude uninterpretable results and count the number of tests, not the number of patients tested. The time taken to report back tests may exceed 9 days in some cases. The indicators are adjusted daily according to the reception of the results.

This data does not allow us to publish any cumulative total, since no information is available on how many people had been tested prior to the first day of reporting.

Note that the positive rate published by the National Public Health Agency is calculated using a different method from our own estimate: it divides the number of positive cases by the number of people tested. Due to the issue of people undergoing multiple rounds of testing not being counted repeatedly in this number of people tested, we divide instead the number of positive cases by the number of tests performed. For this reason, the positive rate shown in our data will by definition be lower than the official estimate, but its trend over time will be the same.


ISO code: DEU
Entity: Germany - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-18
Source label: Robert Koch Institut
Notes: Subtracting weekly changes from cumulative total of samples tested.
General source label: Robert Koch Institut
Short description: The number of tests performed.
General source URL:
https://www.rki.de/SiteGlobals/Forms/Suche/serviceSucheForm.html?nn=2725444&input_=2375194&gts=2725442_list%253DdateOfIssue_dt%252Bdesc&resourceId=2390936&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&searchEngineQueryString=T%C3%A4glicher+Lagebericht+des+RKI+zur+Coronavirus-Krankheit-2019&pageLocale=de

Detailed description:
To determine how many laboratory tests regarding SARS-CoV-2 are carried out per calendar week in Germany and how many tests are positive or negative, the RKI has started a Germany-wide laboratory query. However, the number of laboratories reporting data seems to vary from week to week.

By subtracting each weekly change from the cumulative total, we retrospectively work out the cumulative totals by the end of each week.

Since laboratories can post-check the tests of past calendar weeks in the RKI test number query, previous figures may be revised upwards slightly in subsequent reports. The source is explicit that these figures refer to tests performed and that this will not equal the number of people tested, because of multiple tests per person.


ISO code: GHA
Entity: Ghana - samples tested
Date: 2020-10-21
Source URL: https://www.ghanahealthservice.org/covid19/archive.php
Source label: Outbreak Response Management Situation Update
General source label: Outbreak Response Management
General source URL: https://www.ghanahealthservice.org/covid19/
Short description: The number of samples tested.
Detailed description:
Ghana's Outbreak Response Management provides [daily situation updates](https://www.ghanahealthservice.org/covid19/archive.php) on the total number of samples tested, often provided with a breakdown of the number of samples tested through routine surveillance, contact tracing, and mandatory quarantine. 

Between 10 and 26 May 2020, the daily situation updates provide figures for both the number of samples tested and the number of persons tested. Over this period the two figures differ from one another by exactly 981 tests on each day, which is due to the fact that many of the 1,041 cumulative persons tested under mandatory quarantine were tested multiple times (2,022 samples tested on 1,041 persons). This discrepancy of 981 tests is small, representing less than 1% of cumulative samples tested at the time. In contrast, the cumulative number of samples tested through routine surveillance and contact tracing are exactly equal to the cumulative number of persons tested on each day in these respective categories.

Prior to 10 May 2020, the daily situation updates provide testing figures using inconsistent terminology, varying between "samples tested", "persons tested", "suspected cases tested", and similar language. Nevertheless, we choose to include all of these figures within our constructed time series, since the variation in terminology does not appear to correspond to large breaks in the time series. In addition, based on the fact that the number of samples tested differs only slightly from the number of persons tested over the 10 May to 26 May 2020 period, we have no reason to believe that the variation in terminology prior to 10 May has any serious ramifications for the interpretation of the time series as the cumulative number of samples tested.

From 10 May 2020 onwards, the daily situation updates consistently report the cumulative number of samples tested.


ISO code: GRC
Entity: Greece - samples tested
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: https://eody.gov.gr/covid-gr-daily-report-20201027/
Source label: National Organization of Public Health
General source label: The National Organization of Public Health
General source URL: https://eody.gov.gr/category/covid-19
Short description: The number of samples tested.
Detailed description:
The Greek National Organization of Public Health publishes daily COVID-19 press releases detailing the number of confirmed cases, deaths and samples tested. 

The report refers to the number of clinical samples that have been tested to date since 1 January 2020. This includes the number of samples that tested either positive or negative. Reports are also explicit that the figures relate to samples tested and not the number of people, with figures "including more than one sample per person tested" ("συμπεριλαμβάνονται και περισσότερα από ένα δείγματα ανά άτομο που ελέγχθηκε").

It is not clear whether the data covers all testing in Greece as the source report notes these are "Samples that have been tested in the laboratories cooperating with EODY" ("Δείγματα που έχουν ελεγχθεί στα συνεργαζόμενα με τον ΕΟΔΥ εργαστήρια").

The archived official website provides a [list of daily reports](http://web.archive.org/web/20200531055629/https://eody.gov.gr/epidimiologika-statistika-dedomena/imerisies-ektheseis-covid-19/). The earliest archived report available is from 20 March 2020 when 7,172 clinical samples had been tested since 1 January 2020 with the most recent dated 30 May 2020. From 3 April 2020, daily reports are available via the Greek National Organization of Public Health's [COVID-19 Announcements and press releases](https://eody.gov.gr/category/covid-19).

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: GTM
Entity: Guatemala - people tested (incl. non-PCR)
Date: 2020-10-26
Source URL: https://tablerocovid.mspas.gob.gt/
Source label: Ministry of Health and Social Assistance
General source label: Guatemala Ministry of Health and Social Assistance
General source URL: https://tablerocovid.mspas.gob.gt/
Short description: The number of people tested.
Detailed description:
The Guatemalan Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare publishes daily updates on their offical dashboard (https://tablerocovid.mspas.gob.gt/) reporting the daily and cumulative number of people tested, which we use to construct a daily time series. The figures for "screened cases" [casos tamizados] refer to the number of "cases with any antigen or PCR test result for SARS-CoV2" [caso con cualquier resultado de prueba antígeno o PCR para la detección de SARS-CoV2]. Antigen tests are performed initially upon observation of symptoms, then negative results are verified with a PCR test, so figures include antigen and PCR tests. Pending results are excluded. The time series goes back to February 13 2020.


ISO code: HKG
Entity: Hong Kong - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-20
Source URL: http://www.chp.gov.hk/files/misc/statistics_on_covid_19_testing_cumulative.csv
Source label: Department of Health
General source label: Centre for Health Protection, Department of Health
General source URL: https://data.gov.hk/en-data/dataset/hk-dh-chpsebcddr-novel-infectious-agent
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Hong Kong Centre for Health Protection, Department of Health provides monthly numbers of the COVID-19 viral tests performed. We calculate the cumulative number of tests performed each month in our series. The last update with provisional data is up until 14 April 2020, this information is updated once a week by the Centre for Health Protection. 

Tests performed are conducted by the Public Health Laboratory Services Branch of the Department of Health and Hospital Authority.

The cumulative total begins from 1 January 2020.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: HUN
Entity: Hungary - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-28
Source URL: https://atlo.team/koronamonitor/
Source label: Government of Hungary
Notes: Made available by Atlo.team
General source label: Government of Hungary
General source URL: https://koronavirus.gov.hu/
Short description: The number of samples tested in an accredited laboratory.
Detailed description:
A figure for the 'number of samples tested in an accredited laboratory' ("akkreditált laboratóriumban vizsgált minták száma") is provided in a graphic in the govenrment's coronavirus information website. No other information about the data is provided.

We use these official data as collected by the [visual and data journalism team](https://atlo.team/koronamonitor/) of Budapest-based investigative center Atlatszo, made accessible in a [public spreadsheet](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1e4VEZL1xvsALoOIq9V2SQuICeQrT5MtWfBm32ad7i8Q/edit#gid=311133316). We have cross-checked a sample of the figures in this unofficial spreadsheet against official figures.

Our data for this series is sourced from a non-official repository of official data. As explained in our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#do-you-rely-on-any-non-official-sources) we regularly audit the accuracy of this repository against direct official channels. Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: ISL
Entity: Iceland - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-26
Source URL: https://www.covid.is/data
Source label: Government of Iceland
General source label: Government of Iceland
General source URL: https://www.covid.is/data
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Icelandic Office of Public Health publishes a complete time series of tests performed, broken down into testing scheme. No other information is provided. It is not clear whether these figures include samples that are pending test results. The daily time-series data extends back to 27 February 2020.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: IND
Entity: India - people tested
Date: 2020-04-24
Source URL: https://github.com/datameet/covid19
Source label: Indian Council of Medical Research
Notes: Made available by DataMeet on GitHub
General source label: Indian Council of Medical Research
General source URL: https://github.com/datameet/covid19
Short description: The number of people tested.
Detailed description:
The ICMR reports separate figures for both “samples tested” and “people tested” at press conferences and in press releases (shown separately in the charts above). No other details are provided.

The press releases from ICMR do not always stay online for very long. The reason for this is unknown, but the releases are being backed up at this [GitHub repository](https://github.com/datameet/covid19).

On some occasions there appear to have been more than one update released per day. Where we are aware of multiple observations for the day, we show the number for the earlier release.

The ICMR website does not explicitly state whether the reported figures refer to PCR tests only. From contextual information, it appears that the reported figures may also include samples that were tested using a TrueNat non-PCR test. ICMR communications on [21 May 2020](https://www.icmr.gov.in/pdf/press_realease_files/ICMR_Press_Release_TruNat_21052020.pdf) and [19 April 2020](https://www.icmr.gov.in/pdf/covid/labs/Additional_guidance_on_TrueNat_based_COVID19_testing.pdf) indicate that TrueNat tests are being used in diagnostic testing. These TrueNat tests likely account for a small minority of all samples tested.

It is unclear from the source whether or not the cumulative number of people tested repeatedly counts people that have gone through more than one round of testing over the course of the pandemic. Since we derive a count of the daily number of people tested from the change in this cumulative number, if people undergoing multiple rounds of testing are not counted repeatedly in the cumulative, repeat testers will not appear in our daily testing figures.

Our data for this series is sourced from a non-official repository of official data. As explained in our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#do-you-rely-on-any-non-official-sources) we regularly audit the accuracy of this repository against direct official channels. Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: IND
Entity: India - samples tested
Date: 2020-10-28
Source URL: https://github.com/datameet/covid19
Source label: Indian Council of Medical Research
Notes: Made available by DataMeet on GitHub
General source label: Indian Council of Medical Research
General source URL: https://github.com/datameet/covid19
Short description: The number of samples tested.
Detailed description:
The ICMR reports separate figures for both “samples tested” and “people tested” at press conferences and in press releases (shown separately in the charts above). No other details are provided.

The press releases from ICMR do not always stay online for very long. The reason for this is unknown, but the releases are being backed up at this [GitHub repository](https://github.com/datameet/covid19).

On some occasions there appear to have been more than one update released per day. Where we are aware of multiple observations for the day, we show the number for the earlier release.

The ICMR website does not explicitly state whether the reported figures refer to PCR tests only. From contextual information, it appears that the reported figures may also include samples that were tested using a TrueNat non-PCR test. ICMR communications on [21 May 2020](https://www.icmr.gov.in/pdf/press_realease_files/ICMR_Press_Release_TruNat_21052020.pdf) and [19 April 2020](https://www.icmr.gov.in/pdf/covid/labs/Additional_guidance_on_TrueNat_based_COVID19_testing.pdf) indicate that TrueNat tests are being used in diagnostic testing. These TrueNat tests likely account for a small minority of all samples tested.

Our data for this series is sourced from a non-official repository of official data. As explained in our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#do-you-rely-on-any-non-official-sources) we regularly audit the accuracy of this repository against direct official channels. Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: IDN
Entity: Indonesia - people tested
Date: 2020-10-28
Source URL: https://covid19.disiplin.id/
Source label: Emerging infections, Indonesian Ministry of Health
General source label: Emerging infections, Indonesian Ministry of Health
General source URL: https://covid19.kemkes.go.id/
Short description: The number of people tested.
Detailed description:
The Indonesian Ministry of Health updates its COVID-19 dashboard twice a day but doesn't keep time series of past data. We found past values using Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. The two dashboard URLs ([1](https://infeksiemerging.kemkes.go.id/), [2](https://covid19.kemkes.go.id/)) seem to lead to the exact same dashboard.

The dashboard shows the latest number of "Kasus dg Spesimen Diperiksa", which translates to "Cases with Specimens Checked".

[Official diagnostic guidelines](https://covid19.kemkes.go.id/download/Pedoman_Penanganan_Cepat_Medis_dan_Kesehatan_Masyarakat_COVID-19_di_Indonesia.pdf.pdf) published on 23 March 2020 provide some reason to be concerned that serological (antibody) tests are included in the cumulative testing figures, stating that:

"Handling of COVID-19 in Indonesia uses antibodies and / or antigen Rapid Tests (RT) in case of contact from a positive patient. RT antibodies are also used for case detection...in areas that do not have facilities for RT-PCR inspection. RT antibody examination results are confirmed using RT-PCR." (translated)

However, testing figures provided by the [National Agency for Disaster Countermeasure (BNPB)](https://www.bnpb.go.id/) via [twitter](https://twitter.com/bnpb_indonesia?lang=en) explicitly report the number of PCR tests conducted to date, which match the cumulative testing figures provided in the Ministry of Health dashboard. The PCR testing figures reported by the BNPB include a small number of "rapid molecular tests" ("Test Cepat Molekular"), which are diagnostic tests not to be confused with serological (antibody) tests. Of 998,406 cumulative people tested as of 11 August 2020, 26,184 (2.6%) were tested via rapid molecular testing ([source](https://twitter.com/BNPB_Indonesia/status/1293105682791542784)). These rapid molecular testing figures are included in the time series we construct.

The BNPB reports, via [Twitter](https://twitter.com/BNPB_Indonesia/status/1311595072379449346/photo/1), the number of people checked (per day), which is consistent with the cumulative total of "cases with specimens checked" reported by the Indonesia Ministry of Health dashboard. This suggests that the cumulative total will repeatedly count people that have undergone more than one round of testing over the course of the pandemic. However, no further details were provided by the source.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: IRN
Entity: Iran - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: http://irangov.ir/detail/349847
Source label: Government of Iran
General source label: Government of Iran
General source URL: http://irangov.ir/
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Government of Iran provides daily press releases of the cumulative number of tests performed to date. It is unclear whether the reported figures include tests for which the results are pending.

We have found testing data dating back to 5 April 2020, at which point 189,790 tests had been conducted to date. It is not clear when the first test was conducted.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: IRQ
Entity: Iraq - samples tested
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: https://twitter.com/MOHealth_Iraq/status/1321084590224793601
Source label: Ministry of Health and Environment
General source label: Iraq Ministry of Health and Environment
General source URL: https://moh.gov.iq/
Short description: The number of samples tested.
Detailed description:
The Iraq Ministry of Health and Environment provides daily COVID-19 reports on [their official website](https://moh.gov.iq/) that include the daily and cumulative number of samples tested. These reports date back to late March 2020 but did not begin including testing numbers until 7 April 2020; the cumulative total then was already 26,331. As of 7 September 2020 we source the testing numbers from the [Iraq Ministry of Health official Twitter](https://twitter.com/mohealth_iraq) because the data is more accessible there.

The testing numbers are described as being from "all the specialized laboratories in Iraq" (translated from Arabic). Other reports on the website suggest that these testing numbers are for PCR tests only, but we could not find definitive confirmation of this. No other information is provided.


ISO code: IRL
Entity: Ireland - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: https://covid19ireland-geohive.hub.arcgis.com/pages/hospitals-icu--testing
Source label: Government of Ireland
General source label: Government of Ireland
General source URL: https://covid19ireland-geohive.hub.arcgis.com/
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Government of Ireland released a data hub on 18 June 2020 that provides updates on the number of tests completed. The earliest observation is from 18 March 2020, at which point 6,457 tests had been conducted to date.

The total we report is the sum of total tests completed in hospitals and all other labs (NVRL and Cherry Orchard). 

The source notes "Data presented are reported by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) at 3pm each day (data as of midnight previous day). This data will be updated on a daily basis from Monday to Saturday. As some cases are tested multiple times over the duration of the illness (with positive results) the total number of positive tests does not correspond to the confirmed COVID-19 cases reported by the HPSC."


ISO code: ISR
Entity: Israel - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-16
Source URL: https://govextra.gov.il/media/27815/covid19-data-israel-17102020.csv
Source label: Israel Ministry of Health
General source label: Ministry of Health
General source URL: https://datadashboard.health.gov.il/COVID-19/?utm_source=go.gov.il&utm_medium=referral
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Israel Ministry of Health publishes a coronavirus dashboard on its [website](https://govextra.gov.il/ministry-of-health/corona/corona-virus/). It includes a downloadable data file which includes the cumulative number of coronavirus detection tests conducted. This data file is updated daily and includes data up to one week before publication. 

The first observation in the time series is from 26 January 2020 which covers most, if not all, of the relevant period. 

No further information on the geographical scope, number of labs, or types of test included are known.

The MOH also publishes COVID-19 updates on its official channel on Telegram. However, this data is published in a format that is extremely challenging to collect. We previously relied on the data collected and made available [on GitHub](https://github.com/idandrd/israel-covid19-data/blob/master/Corona-Tests.csv). On 19 April 2020, the person who maintains the GitHub repository confirmed to us that the units refer to the number of tests performed, after checking the information with the Ministry of Health. However, on 29 May 2020 we became aware of the easily accessible Israel MOH series which we now report.


ISO code: ITA
Entity: Italy - people tested
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: https://github.com/pcm-dpc/COVID-19/tree/master/dati-andamento-nazionale
Source label: Presidency of the Council of Ministers
Notes: Made available by the Department of Civil Protection on GitHub
General source label: Ministero della Salute
Short description: The number of people tested.
General source URL:
http://www.salute.gov.it/portale/nuovocoronavirus/dettaglioContenutiNuovoCoronavirus.jsp?lingua=italiano&id=5351&area=nuovoCoronavirus&menu=vuoto

Detailed description:
The official data provided by the Ministry of Health is compiled by the Department of Civil Protection on [GitHub](https://github.com/pcm-dpc/COVID-19).

A [conversation on the GitHub repository](https://github.com/pcm-dpc/COVID-19/issues/864) of the Department of Civil Protection leads us to strongly suspect that people undergoing multiple rounds of testing over the course of the pandemic are not repeatedly counted in these figures. For this reason, since 23 October 2020 we use the "tests performed" series as our series of reference for Italy's testing data.

This figure is available for each individual region separately at the source indicated. However it appears that data is missing for individual regions for particular dates – we assume that these are also missing from the aggregate total for Italy that we provide. The list of missing data, in English, can be seen at the bottom of [this data dashboard built by Franco Mossotto](https://datastudio.google.com/u/0/reporting/91350339-2c97-49b5-92b8-965996530f00/page/RdlHB). 

It is clear that there are delays in timeline running up to a test being reported – both in terms of the time it takes for a symptomatic person to receive a test, and in the time for that test to then get reported in the data. For one region, Lombardy, [an investigation](https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/2003/2003.09320.pdf) found the latter delay in the early period of the outbreak to be around 3-4 days.

There is significant variation in testing practices – in terms of how many tests are conducted and how they are allocated across the population – across regions and these practices have also changed over time. The extent to which tests pending results are included appears to vary across regions.

Pietro Monticone and Riccardo Valperga have written a very helpful and detailed description of these data quality issues [here in GitHub](https://pitmonticone.github.io/covid-italy/owid-testing-italy.html). 

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: ITA
Entity: Italy - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: https://github.com/pcm-dpc/COVID-19/tree/master/dati-andamento-nazionale
Source label: Presidency of the Council of Ministers
Notes: Made available by the Department of Civil Protection on GitHub
General source label: Ministero della Salute
Short description: The number of tests performed.
General source URL:
http://www.salute.gov.it/portale/nuovocoronavirus/dettaglioContenutiNuovoCoronavirus.jsp?lingua=italiano&id=5351&area=nuovoCoronavirus&menu=vuoto

Detailed description:
The official data provided by the Ministry of Health is compiled by the Department of Civil Protection on [GitHub](https://github.com/pcm-dpc/COVID-19). Figures relate to the total number of tests performed. This figure is available for each individual region separately at the source indicated. However it appears that data is missing for individual regions for particular dates – we assume that these are also missing from the aggregate total for Italy that we provide. The list of missing data, in English, can be seen at the bottom of [this data dashboard built by Franco Mossotto](https://datastudio.google.com/u/0/reporting/91350339-2c97-49b5-92b8-965996530f00/page/RdlHB). 

It is clear that there are delays in timeline running up to a test being reported – both in terms of the time it takes for a symptomatic person to receive a test, and in the time for that test to then get reported in the data. For one region, Lombardy, [an investigation](https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/2003/2003.09320.pdf) found the latter delay in the early period of the outbreak to be around 3-4 days.

There is significant variation in testing practices – in terms of how many tests are conducted and how they are allocated across the population – across regions and these practices have also changed over time. The extent to which tests pending results are included appears to vary across regions.

Pietro Monticone and Riccardo Valperga have written a very helpful and detailed description of these data quality issues [here in GitHub](https://pitmonticone.github.io/covid-italy/owid-testing-italy.html). 

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: JAM
Entity: Jamaica - samples tested
Date: 2020-10-26
Source URL: https://www.moh.gov.jm/covid-19-clinical-management-summary-for-monday-october-26-2020/
Source label: Jamaica Ministry of Health and Wellness
General source label: Jamaica Ministry of Health and Wellness
General source URL: https://www.moh.gov.jm/
Short description: The number of samples tested.
Detailed description:
The Jamaican Ministry of Health and Wellness publishes daily press releases on [their official website](https://www.moh.gov.jm/updates/press-releases/) reporting the daily and cumulative number of samples tested, which we use to construct a daily time series. The press releases disaggregate the testing numbers into positive, negative, and pending tests, allowing us to exclude pending tests. It is not clear when testing first began; data is only available from 24 March 2020 when it was reported that 148 samples had been tested.

The press releases refer to “the health departments across the island” and classify new cases by parish, suggesting that all laboratories are included in the testing numbers.

A [press release from 20 September 2020](https://www.moh.gov.jm/jamaica-to-offer-antigen-testing-for-covid-19/) suggests that only PCR tests are in use, but that there are plans to implement non-PCR antigen tests in the near future. We will monitor for the introduction of these non-PCR tests.


ISO code: JPN
Entity: Japan - people tested (incl. non-PCR)
Date: 2020-10-25
Source URL: https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/newpage_14419.html
Source label: Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare Press Release
Notes: See Table: 国内の発生状況, column 1 '検査実施人数'.
General source label: Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare
General source URL: https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/houdou/index.html
Short description: The number of people tested.
Detailed description:
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare issues daily reports for the total number of people tested. Daily changes in the number of people tested are included in parentheses. For 3 April and 21 April 2020, the daily changes do not reconcile with the cumulative totals. Moreover, it is clear that revisions to past data are simply added to the new cumulative total, making the time series of 'daily tests' very erratic.

This includes three cases where the cumulative number of people tested falls: (1) 19 March 2020; (2) 25 March 2020; and (3) 15 May 2020. For case (1) see footnote 4 which indicates a past mistake has been noticed and the cumulative figure revised on the date to adjust for this. For case (2), we could not find the associated footnote. For case (3), see footnote 3 of the press release which indicates a past mistake has been noticed and the cumulative figure revised on the date to adjust for this.

It isn't clear what exact date these cumulative tests date back to, but it is earlier than 10 February 2020 when the source reports 938 people had been tested. Prior to 10 February 2020, the press releases provide reports of coronavirus infections for the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined in Yokohama port. We do not report these numbers in the time series as it is unclear how they relate to the cumulative totals.

The source provides data for both the cumulative number of people tested to date and the number of people tested in the last 24 hours. The daily change in the cumulative number of people tested to date equals the number of people tested in the last 24 hours, suggesting that the cumulative total will repeatedly count people that have undergone more than one round of testing over the course of the pandemic. However, no further details were provided by the source.

The MOH's press release dated 10 July 2020 notes "The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has retroactively changed the number of people who perform tests after July 9, and the number of people after May 13 includes the number of antigen tests in addition to PCR tests. (4,000 or more) is increasing" (translated). In the MOH's 15 July 2020 press release, footnote 3 mentions that "For some local governments, the number of antigen testers is included." (translated).

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: JPN
Entity: Japan - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-22
Source URL: https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/10906000/000687055.pdf
Source label: Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare Press Release
General source label: Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare
General source URL: https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/houdou/index.html
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Notes:
The cumulative total reported in the press release (2,950,228) does not sum to the cumulative total calculated from the weekly and daily figures reported by the MOH. See: https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/10906000/000687076.pdf

Detailed description:
On 11 April 2020, the MOH started providing a daily time series on the "Implementation status of PCR tests for new coronavirus in Japan (based on the date on which results were determined" (via Google translate). 

With each update, some daily totals are revised from earlier releases of the time series. 

From 20 May 2020, the MOH changed how it reports the number of tests performed. From 18 February to 25 March 2020 (as of 20 May 2020), the MOH reports the number of tests implemented each week, and the daily totals thereafter. We calculate the cumulative total from the weekly and daily figures. There are instances where the cumulative totals reported in the press releases do not sum to the cumulative total calculated from the weekly and daily figures. This includes the series released on 20/21 May and 24/25 May 2020. The source does not provide additional details about this discrepancy.


ISO code: JOR
Entity: Jordan - tests performed
Date: 2020-05-01
Source URL: https://corona.moh.gov.jo/en/MediaCenter/1107
Source label: Jordan Ministry of Health
Notes: 78885 total number of tests were conducted in Jordan so far.
General source label: Jordan Ministry of Health
General source URL: https://corona.moh.gov.jo/en/MediaCenter
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Jordanian Ministry of Health publishes irregular updates on the daily number of tests conducted. It is unclear whether the figures refer to the number of people or the number of samples tested. 

The earliest report we could find is for 16 April 2020, however, it remains unclear when the first test was performed. Given the irregularity of the updates, we cannot calculate a time series for the cumulative total number of tests performed.

In late April/early May 2020, the MOH reports the number of random tests conducted daily, we provide a note to highlight these observations in the series.


ISO code: KAZ
Entity: Kazakhstan - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-19
Source URL: https://hls.kz/
Source label: Kazakhstan National Center for Public Health
General source label: Kazakhstan National Center for Public Health
General source URL: https://hls.kz/
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Kazakhstan National Center for Public Health provides an official time series of the total number of tests performed to date. It is unclear whether the reported figures include tests for which the results are pending.

The website explicitly states that "one person could be tested several times", indicating that the number of tests performed ("Проведено тестов") is not equivalent to the number of people tested. The reported number of tests performed may include non-PCR tests. [Official COVID-19 prevention guidelines](https://hls.kz/uploads/covid/%D0%9F%D0%93%D0%93%D0%A1%D0%92%20%E2%84%9636%20%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%B7.docx) indicate that antibody (non-PCR) tests are an important aspect of the country's screening and diagnostic process (see pages 48-54). But the source does not explicitly state whether these non-PCR tests are included in the reported cumulative number of tests performed to date.

The earliest reported figure is from 13 March 2020, at which point 126 tests had been conducted.


ISO code: KEN
Entity: Kenya - samples tested
Date: 2020-10-24
Source URL: https://twitter.com/MOH_Kenya/status/1320009919148556288
Source label: Kenya Ministry of Health
General source label: Ministry of Health
General source URL: http://www.health.go.ke
Short description: The number of samples tested.
Detailed description:
The Kenya Ministry of Health provides daily press releases and tweets ([@MOH_Kenya](https://twitter.com/MOH_Kenya)), sometimes reporting the number of samples tested in the past 24 hours and sometimes reporting the cumulative number of samples tested to date.

The tweets and press releases usually report testing figures in terms of the number of "samples tested". However, the wording used in some tweets and press releases makes it unclear whether the figures relate to the number of samples tested or the number of people tested. For example, the relevant tweet on [4 June 2020](https://twitter.com/MOH_Kenya/status/1268563481235787776) says "2,640 samples tested in the last 24 hours", while the relevant tweet on [1 August 2020](https://twitter.com/MOH_Kenya/status/1289552051916009475) states that "727 people are the latest to test positive for Covid-19 from a sample of 6,371 tested in the last 24 hrs". It does not appear that this inconsistency in terminology reflects a substantive change in the figures that are reported, since there are no large breaks in the time series that correspond to the use of "samples tested" versus "people tested" terminology. Instead, the wording of the tweets and press releases suggests that the reported number of samples tested may be equivalent to the number of people tested.

It is unclear whether the reported figures include tests for which the results are pending.

We have found testing data dating back to 6 March 2020, at which point 31 tests had been conducted to date.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).

Since 26 October 2020, we collect this data automatically based on an [ArcGIS dashboard](https://services7.arcgis.com/1Cyg6S9yGgIqdFPO/ArcGIS/rest/services/cases_today/FeatureServer/0/query) that provides a daily snapshot of cumulative tests.


ISO code: KWT
Entity: Kuwait - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: https://twitter.com/KUWAIT_MOH/status/1321051548835815427
Source label: Kuwait Ministry of Health
General source label: Kuwait Ministry of Health
General source URL: https://twitter.com/KUWAIT_MOH
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Kuwait Ministry of Health provides daily reports of the daily ("NEW TESTS") and cumulative ("Total") number of tests performed on [their official Twitter account](https://twitter.com/KUWAIT_MOH). COVID-19 reports date back to early March 2020 but did not begin including testing numbers until 13 May 2020; the cumulative total then was already 227,000. From 13–29 May 2020, the daily number was termed "NP swab last 24 h" and the cumulative number "Total Investigations."

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: LVA
Entity: Latvia - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: https://data.gov.lv/dati/eng/dataset/covid-19
Source label: Center for Disease Prevention and Control
Notes: Collected from the Latvian Open Data Portal
General source label: Center for Disease Prevention and Control
General source URL: https://data.gov.lv/dati/eng/dataset/covid-19
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Center for Disease Prevention and Control publishes a timeseries of the number of laboratory tests performed to detect SARS-CoV-2 virus ("Veikto laboratorisko testu skaits, lai noteiktu SARS-CoV-2 vīrusu") on the Latvian Government's Open Data Portal. No information is given on the geographical scope and number of labs included.


ISO code: LBY
Entity: Libya - samples tested
Date: 2020-10-26
Source URL: https://ncdc.org.ly/Ar
Source label: Libya National Centre for Disease Control
General source label: Libya National Centre for Disease Control
General source URL: https://ncdc.org.ly/Ar/
Short description: The number of samples tested.
Detailed description:
The Libya National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) used to maintain an official dashboard that reported the cumulative number of samples tested to date. Since late September 2020, this dashboard no longer reports the number of tests, and we only collect the daily number of samples tested from the main page of the NCDC website.

It is unclear whether the reported figures include pending test results.

Note that the testing figures reported in the NCDC dashboard do not match the cumulative testing figures reported in the [WHO Libya COVID-19 situation reports](https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/operations/libya/search?search=COVID-19+Situation+) that are published periodically. For example, the [2 September 2020 situation report](https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/sites/www.humanitarianresponse.info/files/documents/files/libya_covid_update_14_final.pdf) claims that a total of 134,027 samples were tested as of 2 September 2020, whereas the time series we construct from the NCDC dashboard yields a cumulative total of 138,487 samples tested as of 2 September 2020. We are unsure of the reasons for this discrepancy.

The earliest reported figure in the official NCDC dashboard was from 4 March 2020 (3 samples tested). It is unclear how many samples were tested before this date. Because of this lack of historical data, we do not include any cumulative total for the testing data for Libya.


ISO code: LTU
Entity: Lithuania - samples tested
Date: 2020-10-28
Source URL: http://sam.lrv.lt/lt/naujienos/koronavirusas
Source label: Ministry of Health
General source label: Ministry of Health
General source URL: http://sam.lrv.lt/lt/naujienos/koronavirusas
Short description: The number of samples tested.
Detailed description:
The Ministry of Health provides fairly regular updates of the number of samples that have been analyzed/tested for suspected coronavirus to date ("Iki šiol iš viso ištirta ėminių dėl įtariamo koronaviruso"). It is not clear the exact date these cumulative figures date back to. Using web archives, we construct a time series by looking at earlier snapshots of the website.

The figures exclude samples that remain untested (i.e. tests pending results).

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: LUX
Entity: Luxembourg - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-26
Source URL: https://msan.gouvernement.lu/fr/graphiques-evolution.html
Source label: Luxembourg Ministry of Health
General source label: Luxembourg Ministry of Health
General source URL: https://msan.gouvernement.lu/fr/graphiques-evolution.html
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Luxembourg government provides a complete time series of the cumulative number of PCR tests performed since February 2020.

The same source also provides a time series of the number of people tested, but it is unclear whether or not this cumulative figure repeatedly counts people that have gone through more than one round of testing over the course of the pandemic. Since we derive a count of the daily number of people tested from the change in this cumulative number, if people undergoing multiple rounds of testing are not counted repeatedly in the cumulative, repeat testers would not appear in our daily testing figures. We therefore do not collect this data on the number of people tested.


ISO code: MKD
Entity: Macedonia - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-26
Source URL: https://koronavirus.gov.mk/stat
Source label: Ministry of Health
General source label: Ministry of Health
General source URL: https://koronavirus.gov.mk/stat
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Republic of North Macedonia's Ministry of Health publishes COVID-19 updates on [their website](https://koronavirus.gov.mk/stat) and [Google Data Studio](https://datastudio.google.com/embed/u/0/reporting/9f5104d0-12fd-4e16-9a11-993685cfd40f/page/1M), reporting the daily and cumulative number of tests performed, which we use to construct a daily time series. The time series goes back to 30 March 2020. The datasets currently lack descriptions and so many of the details are unclear; we will add further detail as it becomes available.


ISO code: MDG
Entity: Madagascar - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-23
Source URL: https://www.facebook.com/minsanp/photos/a.1083283431736240/3577279982336560/
Source label: Madagascar Ministry of Public Health
General source label: Madagascar Ministry of Public Health
General source URL: https://www.facebook.com/minsanp
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Madagascar Ministry of Public Health provides daily COVID-19 updates on [their official Facebook page](https://www.facebook.com/minsanp) that include the cumulative number of tests performed, labeled "Nb. TESTS." We report here the number labeled "PCR" but do not include the number labeled "GENEXPERT" because it is not clear to what this latter number refers. We suspect it refers to a type of PCR test and thus might be subsumed by the overall PCR number.

These updates date back to March 2020 but did not begin including testing numbers until 28 April 2020; the cumulative total then was 3065. Thus it is not clear when testing began.

No other testing information has been found, such as whether the reported numbers include pending tests or whether all laboratories are included in the totals.


ISO code: MWI
Entity: Malawi - samples tested
Date: 2020-10-25
Source label: Public Health Institute of Malawi
General source label: Public Health Institute of Malawi
General source URL: https://malawipublichealth.org/index.php/resources/covid-19-sitrep-updates/detail
Short description: The number of samples tested.
Source URL:
https://malawipublichealth.org/index.php/resources/COVID-19%20SitRep%20Updates/October%202020/20201025_Malawi%20COVID-19%20situation%20report.pdf/download

Detailed description:
We construct a daily time series of the cumulative number of samples tested to date using daily situation reports published by the Public Health Institute of Malawi. The time series begins on 29 March 2020, at which point a total of 18 samples had been tested. The testing figures exclude pending test results.

The daily situation reports use the terminology "samples tested" and "tests conducted" interchangeably, with no indication that the choice of terminology reflects a substantive difference in interpretation.


ISO code: MYS
Entity: Malaysia - people tested
Date: 2020-10-25
Source URL: http://covid-19.moh.gov.my/terkini/102020/situasi-terkini-25-oktober-2020
Source label: Ministry of Health Malaysia
General source label: Ministry of Health
General source URL: http://covid-19.moh.gov.my/terkini
Short description: The number of people tested.
Detailed description:
The Malaysian Ministry of Health provides daily [situation updates](http://covid-19.moh.gov.my/terkini), including the cumulative number of individuals sampled, available from 19 May 2020. This figure can be found in the infographic titled 'Jumlah Keseluruhan Taburan Kes COVID-19 di Malaysia' labelled as 'Jumlah Individu Disampel'. Since 19 April 2020, we are not aware of this source reporting positive, negative, and pending test figures separately, as was the case before.

It is unclear from the source whether or not the cumulative number of individuals sampled repeatedly counts people that have gone through more than one round of testing over the course of the pandemic. Since we derive a count of the daily number of people tested from the change in this cumulative number, if people undergoing multiple rounds of testing are not counted repeatedly in the cumulative, repeat testers will not appear in our daily testing figures.

The situation updates for 27/28 May 2020 and 2 June 2020 onwards do not include the infographic detailing the total number of people tested. In these instances, we rely on the MOH daily press conference livestreams uploaded to the official Facebook page. The sum of positive and negative tests reported in the livestream match the total people tested figures reported in the situation updates.

For 14/15 May 2020, we use the Director General of Health, [daily press statement figures](https://kpkesihatan.com/2020/05/15/kenyataan-akhbar-kpk-15-mei-2020-situasi-semasa-jangkitan-penyakit-coronavirus-2019-covid-19-di-malaysia/). It details the jump in people tested from 14th to 15th May was due to data consolidation efforts and an improved data collection system.

Prior to 19 May 2020, we relied on MOH web archives to reconstruct the time series. The MOH provided daily updates to the total number of cases tested. It is not clear the exact date these cumulative figures date back to. The earliest release we have been able to find begins from the 14 February 2020. This MOH web archive provides a breakdown of the number of positive, negative, and still pending tests. We report total tests as the sum of positive and negative tests, excluding pending tests. The title of the table indicates that these figures relate to cases. As far as we are aware, cases are equivalent to individuals tested.

In a previous version of this page, we reported total tests as the sum of positive, negative, and pending tests. However, since 7 April 2020, the source has not reported the number of pending tests each day. For this reason, we have updated the time series so that total tests is equal to the sum of positive and negative tests (excluding pending tests) for all days on which we report data.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: MDV
Entity: Maldives - samples tested
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: https://twitter.com/HPA_MV/status/1321134361366941699
Source label: Maldives Health Protection Agency
General source label: Maldives Ministry of Health Official Twitter page
General source URL: https://twitter.com/HPA_MV
Short description: The number of samples tested.
Detailed description:
The Maldives Health Protection Agency, part of the Ministry of Health, provides daily updates on their official Twitter page ([@HPA_MV](https://twitter.com/HPA_MV)) with the cumulative total of samples tested. They note that the total includes “repeated samples,” and likely also includes pending tests. This is our source starting 26 June 2020.

Before 26 June 2020, our source was daily update videos posted to the Maldives Ministry of Health [official Facebook page](https://www.facebook.com/MinistryOfHealthMV). Toward the end of these videos they report the number of positive, pending, and total “Laboratory Sample[s]” tested; before 16 June 2020 the number of negative samples was also reported. The positive, negative, and total numbers are cumulative, while the pending numbers are current as of that day.

From 16–25 June 2020, we used the reported total, which likely includes pending tests. Before the 16th when negative numbers were reported, we used the total of positive and negative numbers rather than the reported total, since the latter generally included pending values and occasionally contained discrepant numbers that did not match any combination of the positive, negative, or pending numbers. It is not clear when testing first began; data is only available from 16 March 2020 where it was reported that 221 tests had been conducted.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: MLT
Entity: Malta - tests performed
Date: 2020-09-28
Source label: COVID-19 Malta Public Health Response Team
General source label: COVID-19 Malta Public Health Response Team
General source URL: https://covid19dashboard.gov.mt
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The COVID-19 Malta Public Health Response Team provides updates on the number of tests performed in the last 24 hours and the cumulative total number of tests performed, on [its dedicated dashboard](https://covid19dashboard.gov.mt) and on [GitHub](https://github.com/COVID19-Malta/COVID19-Cases). This time series only includes PCR tests. The earliest observation available is from 6 February 2020.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: MRT
Entity: Mauritania - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-11
Source URL: http://www.sante.gov.mr/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/111020-Mauritanie-Sitrep-COVID-19_FR-.pdf
Source label: Ministry of Health
General source label: Mauritania Ministry of Health
General source URL: http://www.sante.gov.mr/?cat=4
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Mauritania Ministry of Health publishes daily situation reports that state the cumulative number of tests performed to date, as well as the number of tests performed in the past 24 hours.

Since 7 July 2020, the daily situation reports have differentiated between the number of tests performed in the past 24 hours and the number of "diagnostic" tests performed in the past 24 hours. For example, the [11 October 2020 situation report](http://www.sante.gov.mr/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/111020-Mauritanie-Sitrep-COVID-19_FR-.pdf) states: "91 tests performed today including 83 diagnostic tests" (translated). This wording implies that the 91 tests conducted on 11 October 2020 includes non-diagnostic tests (e.g. antibody tests), which we aim to exclude from our dataset. For this reason, our daily time series of tests conducted in Mauritania begins on 7 July 2020 and only includes the reported number of "diagnostic" tests from this date onwards.


ISO code: MEX
Entity: Mexico - people tested
Date: 2020-10-22
Source URL: https://datos.gob.mx/busca/dataset/informacion-referente-a-casos-covid-19-en-mexico
Source label: Health Secretary
General source label: Government of Mexico
General source URL: https://coronavirus.gob.mx/datos/#DownZCSV
Short description: The number of people tested.
Detailed description:
The Government of Mexico makes several datasets available along with [its COVID-19 dashboard](https://coronavirus.gob.mx/datos/#DownZCSV). The files can be downloaded in CSV format.

To arrive at the time series shown on our website, we use the CSV files for confirmed cases ("confirmados") and negative cases ("negativos"). For each file, we only keep the row that reports national data, merge the two files together, and add up confirmed and negative cases to find the number of people tested each day.

Two pieces of evidence suggest that people undergoing multiple rounds of testing over the course of the pandemic may be counted each round: 1) Figures refer to the number of cases tested, and each case has a unique ID; and 2) The source provides the number of cases with samples tested in the past 24 hours, which matches the daily change in the cumulative number of cases tested.

Data starts on 1 January 2020; we do not know if this is because tests started on that date or because earlier data is not available.


ISO code: MAR
Entity: Morocco - people tested
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: http://www.covidmaroc.ma/Documents/BULLETIN/BQ_COVID.OCTOB_27-20.pdf
Source label: Morocco Ministry of Health
General source label: Morocco Ministry of Health
General source URL: https://www.sante.gov.ma/Pages/Accueil.aspx
Short description: The number of people tested.
Detailed description:
The Morocco Ministry of Health [provides daily updates](http://www.covidmaroc.ma/pages/Accueil.aspx) of the cumulative number of both confirmed cases (“Cas confirmés”) and cases excluded following a negative laboratory result (“Cas exclus suite à un résultat négatif du laboratoire”); we add these two numbers together to derive a cumulative total. We construct a time series of the cumulative total number of cases tested to date using updates from the Ministry of Health's official Twitter page, ([@Ministere_Sante](https://twitter.com/Ministere_Sante)). There are usually two updates per day, and we use the later one. The earliest reported numbers are from 7 February 2020, at which point 9 cases had been tested.

The source provides the daily number of cases confirmed and discarded. The mention of 'cases' suggests that people undergoing multiple rounds of testing over the course of the pandemic may be repeatedly counted. However, no further details are provided by the source.

From 2 March to 18 May 2020 we used data stored in [this unofficial GitHub repository](https://github.com/RedaElmar/COVID-19_Morocco) instead of the official source to automate data collection. We have cross-checked a sample of the figures reported in the unofficial source against official data reported by the Ministry of Health to ensure accuracy.

Our data for this series is sourced from a non-official repository of official data. As explained in our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#do-you-rely-on-any-non-official-sources) we regularly audit the accuracy of this repository against direct official channels. Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: MOZ
Entity: Mozambique - units unclear
Date: 2020-10-25
Source label: Mozambique Ministry of Health
General source label: Mozambique Ministry of Health
General source URL: https://www.misau.gov.mz/index.php/covid-19-boletins-diarios
Short description: It is unclear whether the number of tests refers to samples or individuals tested.
Source URL:
https://www.misau.gov.mz/index.php/covid-19-boletins-diarios?download=672:boletim-diario-covid-19-n-222

Detailed description:
The Mozambique Ministry of Health publishes daily reports on the number of cases registered, the total number of negative tests, and total tests conducted. It is unclear as to whether figures refer to the number of people or samples tested. 

The number of positive cases registered and the total number of negative tests is equal to the number of total tests conducted for the majority of the daily reports released. For dates where this is not the case, we favour the sum of positive cases registered and the number of negative tests.

From 3 October 2020, the MOH no longer reports the number of negative tests. Instead, it reports the number of tests in the last 24 hours and the cumulative number of tests.

There are reports published prior to the 28 March (the earliest we could find is dated 18 March 2020) that include the number of positive and negative tests conducted by the National Institute of Health or in private laboratories. However, the cumulative totals for 26 and 27 March 2020 are inconsistent with the cumulative total reported for the 28 March 2020 onwards. Therefore, to avoid potential inconsistenies with the series from 28 March 2020, we do not include these testing figures.


ISO code: MMR
Entity: Myanmar - samples tested
Date: 2020-10-07
Source URL: http://mohs.gov.mm/su/zcer9816ZC
Source label: Myanmar Ministry of Health and Sports
General source label: Myanmar Ministry of Health and Sports
General source URL: https://mohs.gov.mm/page/9575
Short description: The number of samples tested.
Detailed description:
The Myanmar Ministry of Health and Sports provides [daily situation reports](https://mohs.gov.mm/page/9575) of the total number of samples tested to date. These figures include positive and negative test results, but exclude pending results.

The earliest reported figure we have been able to find on the ministry website is from 3 April 2020, at which point 1,183 samples had been tested.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: NAM
Entity: Namibia - samples tested
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: https://www.facebook.com/MoHSSNamibia/photos/pcb.634608403878833/634607707212236
Source label: Ministry of Health and Social Services
General source label: Namibia Ministry of Health and Social Services
General source URL: https://www.facebook.com/MoHSSNamibia/
Short description: The number of samples tested.
Detailed description:
The Namibia Ministry of Health and Social Services provides daily COVID-19 reports on [their official Facebook page](https://www.facebook.com/MoHSSNamibia) that include the cumulative number of samples tested. These reports date back to late March 2020 but did not begin including testing numbers until 1 April 2020; the cumulative total then was 306 samples tested.

A [report from 9 July 2020](https://www.facebook.com/MoHSSNamibia/photos/a.500031154003226/562143527791988/) states that the only tests in use are PCR. We have seen no subsequent reports suggesting that non-PCR tests are in use. The tests are performed at both public and private laboratories, and it appears that all laboratories are included in the reported totals. The wording in the reports often suggests that pending tests are not included, but we have seen no definitive confirmation of this.


ISO code: NPL
Entity: Nepal - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jfbI0wUQSBTKqrZKFgu3BuM4gEsv3WuR
Source label: Ministry of Health and Population
General source label: Ministry of Health and Population
General source URL: https://covid19.mohp.gov.np/#/
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Nepal Ministry of Health and Population publishes daily reports on COVID-19, including the number of RT-PCR tests performed nationally and in different labs.

Before 11 May 2020, the reports differentiated between positive, negative, and pending tests, allowing removal of pending tests from the total. Since 11 May 2020 the number of pending tests is no longer reported and thus it is unclear if they are included in the reported total.

Our data for this series is sourced from a non-official repository of official data. As explained in our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#do-you-rely-on-any-non-official-sources) we regularly audit the accuracy of this repository against direct official channels. Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: NLD
Entity: Netherlands - people tested
Date: 2020-09-27
Source label: National Institute for Public Health and the Environment
General source label: Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment
General source URL: https://www.rivm.nl/documenten/wekelijkse-update-epidemiologische-situatie-covid-19-in-nederland
Short description: The number of people tested.
Detailed description:
The Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment releases weekly epidemiological reports of the COVID-19 situation. The reports contain a time series of the number of persons tested per week since 9 March 2020.

Since the source provides figures for the number of people tested per week, we take this to mean that people that have undergone more than one round of testing in different weeks over the course of the outbreak will be counted repeatedly. Our cumulative figures for testing are calculated by summing the weekly figures together. As such they will include duplicates for people undergoing multiple rounds of testing.

There appear to be large reporting lags, such that the number of labs reporting for days in the current week tend to be lower than for the previous week. As a result, the reported figures are updated retrospectively as additional labs report their results. The figures we display are based on the latest available epidemiological report, but we currently censor the last month of data to avoid showing an artificially low number of tests (and therefore an underestimate positive rate).

The epidemiological reports state that 'all laboratories in the Netherlands that perform diagnostics for SARS-CoV-2 have been asked from 9 March 2020 to report these data daily.' However, the number of labs reporting in a given weekly figure has varied over the course of the reports, which may affect the consistency of the time series we present.


ISO code: NZL
Entity: New Zealand - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-27
Source label: Ministry of Health
General source label: New Zealand Ministry of Health
Short description: The number of tests performed.
General source URL:
https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-current-situation/covid-19-current-cases

Detailed description:
The New Zealand Ministry of Health provide a time series for tests per day and cumulative tests. The daily figures begin on 9 March 2020, and the cumulative figures date back to 22 January 2020 when testing began.

A note to the data states that "The total number of tests conducted is greater than the number of people tested, because some people are tested more than once."


ISO code: NGA
Entity: Nigeria - samples tested
Date: 2020-10-28
Source URL: http://covid19.ncdc.gov.ng/
Source label: Nigeria Centre for Disease Control
General source label: Nigeria Centre for Disease Control
Short description: The number of samples tested.
General source URL:
https://ncdc.gov.ng/diseases/sitreps/?cat=14&name=An%20update%20of%20COVID-19%20outbreak%20in%20Nigeria

Detailed description:
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, on the homepage of the website dedicated to COVID-19, publishes a number of samples tested.

This table often displays figures in a format such as "> 7153". When this is the case, we have taken the raw number (in our example 7,153) as the cumulative total for that day.

No information is given on the geographical scope and number of labs included. It is also unclear whether the reported figures include tests for which the results are pending.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: NOR
Entity: Norway - people tested
Date: 2020-10-24
Source URL: https://www.fhi.no/en/id/infectious-diseases/coronavirus/daily-reports/daily-reports-COVID19
Source label: Norwegian Institute of Public Health
General source label: Norwegian Institute of Public Health
General source URL: https://www.fhi.no/en/id/infectious-diseases/coronavirus/daily-reports/daily-reports-COVID19
Short description: The number of people tested
Detailed description:
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health publishes a full time series of the daily number of people who have been tested – including the number and share who tested positive. 

Since the source provides figures for the number of people tested per day, we take this to mean that people that have undergone more than one round of testing in different days over the course of the outbreak will be counted repeatedly. Our cumulative figures for testing are calculated by summing the daily figures together. As such they will include duplicates for people undergoing multiple rounds of testing.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: OMN
Entity: Oman - units unclear
Date: 2020-08-05
Source URL: https://twitter.com/OmanVSCovid19/status/1291041843514310657
Source label: Oman Ministry of Health
General source label: Oman Ministry of Health
General source URL: https://twitter.com/OmanVSCovid19
Short description: It is unclear whether the number of tests refers to samples or individuals tested.
Detailed description:
The Oman Ministry of Health provides daily statements, including the total number of tests within the last 24 hours. It is unclear whether tests refer to samples or individuals tested. 

The earliest observation on testing figures begins from 4 June 2020. No cumulative total is provided by the source, therefore this time series is only visible on our graphs for daily tests.

The daily statements issued by the MOH do not provide test figures after 6 August 2020. 

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: PAK
Entity: Pakistan - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-28
Source URL: http://www.covid.gov.pk/
Source label: Government of Pakistan
General source label: Government of Pakistan
General source URL: http://www.covid.gov.pk/
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The government of Pakistan publishes a [dashboard showing up-to-date national data](http://www.covid.gov.pk/).

The figures sometimes shows important 1-day increases due to the inclusion of more labs.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: PSE
Entity: Palestine - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-25
Source URL: https://www.facebook.com/mohps/posts/3265430020249520
General source label: Palestinian Ministry of Health
General source URL: https://www.facebook.com/mohps/
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Palestinian Ministry of Health publishes regular updates on the daily number of tests performed via it's official Facebook page.

The earliest update for daily testing we could find begins from 28 August 2020. It remains unclear when the first test was performed. 

We are aware of the Palestinian Ministry of Health's [COVID-19 dashboard](http://site.moh.ps/index/covid19/LanguageVersion/0/Language/ar), where the cumulative number of tests performed is provided. However, we cannot verify whether these observations are consistent with the daily numbers reported by the MOH Facebook page. As the daily series is longer, as well as consistently and regularly reported, we favour reporting the daily totals.


ISO code: PAN
Entity: Panama - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-26
Source URL: https://twitter.com/MINSAPma/status/1320868044198105088
Source label: Panama Ministry of Health
General source label: Panama Ministry of Health
General source URL: http://minsa.gob.pa/covid-19
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Panama Ministry of Health reports the cumulative number of tests performed ("pruebas realizadas") on [their official dashboard](http://minsa.gob.pa/covid-19) with a time series dating back to 9 March 2020. The page with testing numbers is not the first one shown but can be navigated to with the arrows at the bottom of the dashboard. The dashboard shows the cumulative number of total, positive ("positivas"), negative ("negativas"), and control tests ("prueba de control") performed. We report here the total of positive and negative numbers because: 1) the time series only includes positive and negative test numbers; and 2) the total they provide seems to include control tests, which we understand to be used for testing quality control.

Starting 15 August 2020, the official dashboard is no longer being updated while it is being restructured. We now source the daily testing numbers from the [Ministry of Health's official Twitter page](https://twitter.com/MINSAPma). We continue to report the total of positive ("casos confirmados") and negative ("pruebas negativas") tests.

The reported number of tests performed may include non-PCR tests. The [official weekly COVID-19 bulletin on 22 May 2020](http://minsa.b-cdn.net/sites/default/files/publicacion-general/boletin_14_covid-19.pdf) lists a set of actions taken at the national level, including: "Algorithm request to the head of the ICGES virology laboratory for the confirmation or ruling out of COVID-19 cases, using serological tests" (translated). This implies that serological (non-PCR) tests are planning to be used, or are already being used, in case confirmation. On the other hand, an [official epidemiological report published on 12 May 2020](http://minsa.b-cdn.net/sites/default/files/publicacion-general/informe_especial_1_covid-19_panama_.pdf) states that "The diagnostic method used for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in the laboratory was the Molecular Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction Test (RT-PCR)" (translated). We have been unable to find any official information that clarifies whether non-PCR tests are being used for case confirmation.


ISO code: PRY
Entity: Paraguay - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-26
Source URL: https://www.mspbs.gov.py/reporte-covid19.html
Source label: Paraguay Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare
General source label: Paraguay Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare
General source URL: https://www.mspbs.gov.py/reporte-covid19.html
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Paraguay Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare maintains an [official dashboard](https://www.mspbs.gov.py/reporte-covid19.html) that reports the weekly and daily number of PCR tests conducted, alongside the percentage of postive tests ('confirmados'). Weekly figures are provided in the chart titled "Cantidad de pruebas vs confirmados". Daily figures are available by clicking on the "+" symbol that appears when hovering over the bottom-left corner of this chart.

The fact that the percentage shown equates to the number of confirmed cases suggests that the testing figures equate to the number of people tested and do not include tests pending results.

The reported figures are cumulative from 7 March 2020, when the first case in Paraguay was confirmed.


ISO code: PER
Entity: Peru - people tested
Date: 2020-09-05
Source URL: https://www.dge.gob.pe/portal/docs/tools/coronavirus/coronavirus050920.pdf
Source label: Peru Ministry of Health
General source label: Peru Ministry of Health
General source URL: https://www.dge.gob.pe/portal/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=678
Short description: The number of people tested.
Detailed description:
The Peruvian Ministry of Health publishes daily presentation slides on the number of people tested for the coronavirus, explicitly distinguishing between PCR and rapid tests. We only include PCR test figures in our series.

On dates where presentation slides are unavailable, we use the Ministry's [press releases](https://www.gob.pe/minsa#noticias) to supplement the series. Where the dates across the two sources overlap, the number of people tested in the presentation slides are consistently identical to the press release figures for the previous day.

Since 29 July 2020, the source provides data for both the cumulative number of people tested to date and the number of people tested in the last 24 hours. The daily change in the cumulative number of people tested to date equals the number of people tested in the last 24 hours, suggesting that the cumulative total will repeatedly count people that have undergone more than one round of testing over the course of the pandemic. It is not clear if this was the case before 29 July. No further details were found.

For 22 March 2020, the press release quotes 7486 samples were tested, although adding the total number of positive (395) and negative (6269) tests totals to 6664 samples – consistent with neighbouring test figures. Hence, we use the summed total of 6664 samples.

Where multiple press releases have been issued in one day, 20 March 2020, we report the testing figures in the most recent release.

Peru includes positive antibody tests in their figures for confirmed cases. Our testing figures—which exclude antibody tests—are not an appropriate comparison in these instances: on this basis there could be more cases than tests, which is not possible. For this reason, we do not calculate the positive rate or number of tests per confirmed case for Peru.


ISO code: PHL
Entity: Philippines - people tested
Date: 2020-10-26
Source URL: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1s3qvVLa82fTPgTEnPt_kShkpf07XIm0D?usp=sharing
Source label: Philippines Department of Health
General source label: Department of Health
General source URL: http://www.doh.gov.ph/covid19tracker
Short description: The number of people tested.
Detailed description:
As part of its COVID-19 dashboard, the Philippines Department of Health provides a 'COVID-19 DOH Data Drop' as a series of CSV files shared on Google Drive.

Among these files, the 'Testing Aggregates' file includes a time series of cumulative unique individuals tested since 3 April 2020.

The source provides a breakdown by laboratory. Data for recent days may be incomplete due to delays in reporting.

The source provides data for both the cumulative number of people tested to date and the number of people tested in the last 24 hours. The daily change in the cumulative number of people tested to date equals the number of people tested in the last 24 hours, suggesting that the cumulative total will repeatedly count people that have undergone more than one round of testing over the course of the pandemic. However no further details were found at either source.


ISO code: POL
Entity: Poland - people tested
Date: 2020-10-25
Source URL: https://twitter.com/MZ_GOV_PL/status/1320300317322350595
Source label: Poland Ministry of Health
General source label: Poland Ministry of Health
General source URL: https://twitter.com/MZ_GOV_PL
Short description: The number of people tested.
Detailed description:
The Polish Ministry of Health provides a daily diagnostics reports on their official Twitter account that gives the cumulative number of samples tested and people tested.

It is unclear from the source whether or not the cumulative number of people tested repeatedly counts people that have gone through more than one round of testing over the course of the pandemic. Since we derive a count of the daily number of people tested from the change in this cumulative number, if people undergoing multiple rounds of testing are not counted repeatedly in the cumulative, repeat testers will not appear in our daily testing figures.

The earliest observation on figures for people tested is from 28 April 2020.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: POL
Entity: Poland - samples tested
Date: 2020-10-25
Source URL: https://twitter.com/MZ_GOV_PL/status/1320300317322350595
Source label: Poland Ministry of Health
General source label: Poland Ministry of Health
General source URL: https://twitter.com/MZ_GOV_PL
Short description: The number of samples tested.
Detailed description:
The Polish Ministry of Health provides a daily diagnostics reports on their official Twitter account that gives the cumulative number of samples tested and people tested.

The earliest observation for the number of samples tested begins from 6 March 2020. Between 12 and 27 April 2020, the number of samples tested is split into the number of positive and negative results. There are some dates for which we could not find the MOH tweets and these gaps are filled in using observations taken from this [unoffical repository](https://github.com/anuszka/COVID-19-MZ_GOV_PL) of the MOH figures.

There is a fall in the cumulative total on 8 August 2020 due to a past mistake has been noticed and the cumulative figure revised on the date to adjust for this.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: PRT
Entity: Portugal - samples tested
Date: 2020-10-26
Source URL: https://covid19.min-saude.pt/ponto-de-situacao-atual-em-portugal/
Source label: Ministry of Health
General source label: Portugal Ministry of Health dashboard
General source URL: https://covid19.min-saude.pt/ponto-de-situacao-atual-em-portugal/
Short description: The number of samples processed
Detailed description:
The dashboard provides figures for the number of samples processed, both as daily figures and as cumulative figure since 1 March 2020.

Up until 29 April 2020 we had reported a figure of the number of people tested, obtained as the sum of confirmed and unconfirmed cases in the Portugal Ministry of Health (MOH) [daily updates](https://covid19.min-saude.pt/relatorio-de-situacao/). We were alerted by a Technical Advisor within the Cabinet of the Secretary of Health to the fact that these figures only captures people who were reported through the National System of Epidemiological Surveillance which does not include many of the people that get tested but are never entered into the surveillance system (because they do not meet the criteria and go on to test negatively). For this reason we have now switched to the current series. The advisor confirmed to us that this series: includes all the public, private and university labs performing SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis in Portugal; does not include tests pending results; includes only PCR tests.


ISO code: QAT
Entity: Qatar - people tested
Date: 2020-10-28
Source URL: https://www.data.gov.qa/pages/dashboard-covid-19-cases-in-qatar/
Source label: Qatar Ministry of Public Health
General source label: Qatar Open Data Portal
General source URL: https://www.data.gov.qa/pages/dashboard-covid-19-cases-in-qatar/
Short description: The number of people tested.
Detailed description:
The Qatar Open Data Portal publishes a daily time series of the cumulative number of tests performed to date. The earliest reported figure that we have been able to find is from 12 March 2020, at which point 5,309 tests had been performed to date.

The testing figures reported by the Open Data Portal match the cumulative number of people tested to date reported by the [Qatar Ministry of Public Health](https://covid19.moph.gov.qa/EN/Pages/default.aspx#). But the Ministry of Public Health only provides a snapshot of the cumulative number of people tested as of today, so we use the data provided by the Open Data Portal to construct a daily time series of the cumulative number of people tested each day since 12 March 2020.

The daily change in the 'total number of people tested to date' equals the 'number of people tested in the last 24 hours'. This suggests that the cumulative total will repeatedly count people that have undergone more than one round of testing over the course of the pandemic. However no further details were found at either source.

It is not clear whether the reported figures include people for which test results are pending.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: ROU
Entity: Romania - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: https://gov.ro/ro/media/comunicate/buletin-de-presa-27-octombrie-2020-ora-13-00&page=1
Source label: Ministry of Internal Affairs
General source label: Romanian Government
General source URL: https://gov.ro/ro/media/comunicate
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
We construct a time series from daily press releases on the [Romanian Government website](https://gov.ro/ro/media/comunicate) which includes a cumulative figure of the number of tests processed to date (e.g. "Până la această dată, la nivel național, au fost prelucrate 484.782 de teste."). No other information is provided. 

Where unavailable at this main source, some earlier observations were sourced from the press office of the [Ministry of Internal Affairs](https://www.mai.gov.ro/category/comunicate-de-presa/).

Our data for this series is sourced from a non-official repository of official data. As explained in our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#do-you-rely-on-any-non-official-sources) we regularly audit the accuracy of this repository against direct official channels. Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: RUS
Entity: Russia - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: https://rospotrebnadzor.ru/about/info/news/news_details.php?ELEMENT_ID=15806
Source label: Government of the Russian Federation
General source label: Government of the Russian Federation
General source URL: https://rospotrebnadzor.ru/about/info/news/
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The [Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-Being](https://www.rospotrebnadzor.ru/about/info/news/) publishes a daily report giving the cumulative total of tests performed in Russia. No information is given on the geographical scope and number of labs included.

We do not include cumulative totals reported on 30 March 2020 and 31 March 2020, as they seemed inconsistent with numbers given on 29 March 2020 and 1 April 2020.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: RWA
Entity: Rwanda - samples tested
Date: 2020-10-28
Source label: Rwanda Ministry of Health
General source label: Rwanda Ministry of Health
General source URL: https://www.moh.gov.rw/
Short description: The number of samples tested.
Detailed description:
The Rwanda Ministry of Health ([@RwandaHealth](https://twitter.com/RwandaHealth)) tweets press releases in English, French, and Kinyarwanda that report the number of samples tested each day. 

The earliest press release we have found containing testing figures is from 7 April 2020. Between 7 April 2020 and 1 May 2020 (inclusive), the press releases reported the number of samples tested today, but not the cumulative number of samples tested to date. Since 2 May 2020, the press releases have reported the cumulative number of samples tested to date as well as the number of samples tested today. We construct a daily time series since 6 April 2020 of the cumulative number of samples tested to date by subtracting daily tests between 7 April 2020 and 2 May 2020 from the 2 May 2020 cumulative total.

As of 6 April 2020, 5,701 samples had been tested to date. It is unclear when the first samples were tested.

It is unclear whether the reported figures include tests for which the results are pending.

Prior to 17 April 2020, the press releases reported testing figures using the language "samples tested". From 17 April 2020 onwards, the press releases have used the ambiguous language "tests today". We assume that "tests today" still refers to the number of samples tested.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).

Since 26 October 2020, we collect this data automatically based on an [ArcGIS dashboard](https://gis.rbc.gov.rw/server/rest/services/Hosted/service_b580a3db9319449e82045881f1667b01/FeatureServer/0/query) that provides a daily snapshot of cumulative tests.


ISO code: SAU
Entity: Saudi Arabia - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-26
Source URL: https://covid19.moh.gov.sa/
Source label: Ministry of Health
General source label: Ministry of Health
General source URL: https://covid19.moh.gov.sa/
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health maintains a dashboard that provides a snapshot of the total number of tests performed to date. The daily time series of tests performed each day is not displayed in the dashboard, but is available at this [API endpoint](https://services6.arcgis.com/bKYAIlQgwHslVRaK/arcgis/rest/services/DailyTestPerformance_ViewLayer/FeatureServer/0/query?f=json&where=ReportDate%3E%272020-01-01+00%3A00%3A00%27&returnGeometry=False&spatialRel=esriSpatialRelIntersects&outFields=ReportDate%2CCumulativeTest%2CDailyTest&orderByFields=ReportDate+asc&resultOffset=0&resultRecordCount=32000&resultType=standard).

The dashboard reports testing figures as "total tests", making it unclear whether the figures refer to the number of samples tested, tests performed, or people tested. Nevertheless, corresponding press releases from [the Ministry of Health](https://www.moh.gov.sa/en/Ministry/MediaCenter/News/Pages/default.aspx) imply that the figures refer to the total number of tests performed. For example, the [26 July 2020 press release](https://www.moh.gov.sa/en/Ministry/MediaCenter/News/Pages/News-2020-07-26-004.aspx) states that "...57,216 new Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests for Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) have been conducted in the Kingdom’s laboratories, bringing the total number to 3,056,956 lab tests".

The figures are cumulative since 2 March 2020 (160 tests performed).

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: SEN
Entity: Senegal - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-28
Source URL: http://www.sante.gouv.sn/
Source label: Ministry for Health and Social Action
General source label: Ministry for Health and Social Action
General source URL: http://www.sante.gouv.sn/
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Senegalese Ministry for Health and Social Action publishes an official dashboard alongside daily press releases that report the number of tests performed ("nombre de tests réalisés") and the number of confirmed cases ("cas positifs" / "cas confirmes"). The dashboard provides daily testing figures since 1 April 2020, which we supplement with daily press releases dating back to 28 February 2020. We have cross-checked a sample of the dashboard figures against the press release figures to ensure consistency.

The fact that the number of reported tests with positive results ("son revenus positifs") equals the number of confirmed cases implies that the testing figures equal the number of people tested.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: SRB
Entity: Serbia - people tested
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: https://github.com/aleksandar-jovicic/COVID19-Serbia/blob/master/timeseries.csv
Source label: Ministry of Health
Notes: Made available by Aleksandar Jovičić on Github
General source label: Ministry of Health
General source URL: https://www.zdravlje.gov.rs/sekcija/345852/covid-19.php
Short description: The number of people tested.
Detailed description:
Reports are published daily by the Serbian Ministry of Health. The data is collected and aggregated by volunteers and [published on GitHub](https://github.com/aleksandar-jovicic/COVID19-Serbia). All labs in Serbia are included.

The daily change in the total number of people tested equals the number of people with samples tested since the last daily report. This suggests that the cumulative total will repeatedly count people that have been tested more than once over the course of the pandemic. However no further details could be found at the sources.

Our data for this series is sourced from a non-official repository of official data. As explained in our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#do-you-rely-on-any-non-official-sources) we regularly audit the accuracy of this repository against direct official channels. Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: SGP
Entity: Singapore - people tested
Date: 2020-10-26
Source URL: https://www.moh.gov.sg/covid-19
Source label: Ministry of Health
General source label: Ministry of Health
General source URL: https://www.moh.gov.sg/covid-19
Short description: The number of people tested.
Detailed description:
The Ministry of Health dashboard gives a cumulative total of swabs tested and unique persons tested.

No other information is provided.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: SVK
Entity: Slovakia - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: https://www.korona.gov.sk
Source label: National Health Information Centre
General source label: Government of Slovakia
General source URL: https://www.korona.gov.sk
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Government of Slovakia provides a website with figures for the number of tests performed.

We fetch data from the official dashboard [mapa.covid.chat](https://mapa.covid.chat), which publishes an endpoint that includes testing data at [mapa.covid.chat/map_data](https://mapa.covid.chat/map_data).


ISO code: SVN
Entity: Slovenia - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-26
Source URL: https://www.gov.si/assets/vlada/Koronavirus-podatki/COVID-19-vsi-podatki.xlsx
Source label: Government of Slovenia
General source label: Slovenian Government coronavirus information page
General source URL: https://www.gov.si/teme/koronavirus
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Government information website provides figures for the number of tests completed ("Opravljeni testi"). A time series of both cumulative and daily tests is available to download. This dates back to 12 March 2020, where 3,863 tests are reported to have already been performed (it is not known from which date this first cumulative figure dates back to).

The same cumulative figure is published each day by the [National Insitute for Public Health (NIJZ)](https://www.nijz.si/sl/dnevno-spremljanje-okuzb-s-sars-cov-2-covid-19). Here they clarify that figures relate to the number of tests – including those for people who were tested several times.

A footnote states that the figures relate to "Laboratory tests performed as part of routine testing and the COVID-19 National Survey are included." The later appears to refer to the prevalence study described on this [Government page](https://www.gov.si/en/news/2020-04-24-national-covid-19-prevalence-survey/). The description of the study states that "The survey is being conducted on a random sample of 3,000 persons" and that people will be tested with both a PCR and a serological test. For this reason, the reported testing figures may include serological tests in addition to PCR tests.

The volunteer-led [Sledilnik.org project](https://covid-19.sledilnik.org/#/) also presents the official data in a helpful website.


ISO code: ZAF
Entity: South Africa - people tested
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: https://github.com/dsfsi/covid19za
Source label: National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD)
Notes: Made available by the University of Pretoria on Github
General source label: National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD)
General source URL: https://www.nicd.ac.za/media/alerts/
Short description: The number of people tested.
Detailed description:
The South African National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) publishes daily updates on the number of confirmed cases, deaths and tests conducted nationally and by province. These updates are published on its [website](https://www.nicd.ac.za/media/alerts/) and on its offical Twitter account ([@nicd_sa](https://twitter.com/nicd_sa)).

The NICD reports the number of 'tests processed', which is also labelled as 'total tested'. On 18 April 2020, the official twitter account for the [Department for Health](https://twitter.com/HealthZA/status/1251605326681575427) clarified that repeat tests for COVID-19 are not counted and that the testing figures refer to the number of people tested.

The source provides data for both the cumulative number of people tested to date and the number of people tested in the last 24 hours. The daily change in the cumulative number of people tested to date equals the number of people tested in the last 24 hours, suggesting that the cumulative total will repeatedly count people that have undergone more than one round of testing over the course of the pandemic. However no further details were found at either source.

The NICD began publishing daily updates on 7 February 2020, allowing us to develop a time series from this date forward. We do not know the first date of testing. As of 7 February 2020, 42 people had been tested.

We source this data from the [Data Repository for South Africa](https://github.com/dsfsi/covid19za) repo – created, maintained and hosted by Data Science for Social Impact research group, led by Dr. Vukosi Marivate, at the University of Pretoria.

Our data for this series is sourced from a non-official repository of official data. As explained in our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#do-you-rely-on-any-non-official-sources) we regularly audit the accuracy of this repository against direct official channels. Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: KOR
Entity: South Korea - people tested
Date: 2020-10-28
Source URL: http://ncov.mohw.go.kr/en/
Source label: Ministry of Health and Welfare
General source label: Ministry of Health and Welfare
General source URL: http://ncov.mohw.go.kr/en/
Short description: The number of people tested.
Detailed description:
The Korean CDC have provided daily updates in English since 21 January 2020.

The daily updates show the change each day and the current total. These form a consistent chain all the way back to 21 January 2020. The daily figures we provide relate to the daily change in the number of people tested with results (the figures do not include those cases pending test results).

The source provides data for both the cumulative number of people tested to date and the number of people tested in the last 24 hours. The daily change in the cumulative number of people tested to date equals the number of people tested in the last 24 hours, suggesting that the cumulative total will repeatedly count people that have undergone more than one round of testing over the course of the pandemic. However no further details were found at either source.

Since 23 September 2020, due to a change in format on the Korean CDC website, we collect our data from the website of the [Ministry of Health and Welfare](http://ncov.mohw.go.kr/en/) dedicated to COVID-19. The data shown by the Korean CDC and the Ministry of Health and Welfare is perfectly identical.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: ESP
Entity: Spain - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-24
Source label: Ministry of Health, Consumption and Social Welfare
General source label: Ministerio de Sanidad, Consumo y Bienestar Social
General source URL: https://www.mscbs.gob.es/gabinete/notasPrensa.do
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Source URL:
https://www.mscbs.gob.es/profesionales/saludPublica/ccayes/alertasActual/nCov/documentos/Actualizacion_237_COVID-19.pdf

Detailed description:
We construct a time series of the cumulative number of tests performed to date using weekly press releases from the Ministry of Health, Consumption and Social Welfare. In the current week, we supplement this time series with provisional daily data on the number of PCR tests performed, published in [daily updates](https://www.mscbs.gob.es/profesionales/saludPublica/ccayes/alertasActual/nCov/situacionActual.htm) by the Ministry of Health, Consumption and Social Welfare. Once the official weekly figure becomes available for the current week, we remove the provisional daily figures from our dataset.

The first estimate in our time series (13 April 2020) comes from a Ministry of Health, Consumption and Social Welfare [press release](https://www.mscbs.gob.es/gabinete/notasPrensa.do?metodo=detalle&id=4864), quoting Salvador Illa (Minister of Health): "From the beginning of the crisis and until April 13, the total number of PCR carried out in Spain is 930,230." The second estimate in our time series comes from a 27 April 2020 press release from the Ministry of Health, Consumption and Social Welfare, relating to testing conducted up to 23 April 2020. The press release provides a breakdown across Autonomous Communities (regions), with a total of 1,035,522 PCR tests conducted nationwide. The same release provides a figure of 310,038 antibody tests conducted nationwide. Antibody tests differ from PCR tests, [as we discuss](https://ourworldindata.org/covid-testing#different-types-of-tests-for-covid-19). Our database aims to not include antibody tests. So in order to provide data that is most comparable to other countries in our database, we only include the PCR testing figures.

One aspect of the 27 April 2020 press release that is not entirely clear is whether the figures provided for each Autonomous Community relate to 23 April 2020. Comparing the regional breakdowns provided in the Ministry of Health press release to those collected from official sources by CIVIO (as of 28 April 2020) suggests that the figure of 203,892 provided for Madrid in the Ministry of Health update—ostensibly dating to the 23 April 2020—may date back to 14 April 2020.

[CIVIO](https://datos.civio.es/dataset/pcr-coronavirus-covid19-espana-comunidades-autonomas/) is a non-profit investigative data journalism organisation who are collating information on tests performed within each Autonomous Community, as released through official channels (communication offices, web pages, press releases and social networks of the different regions).

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).

---

Daily case reports (e.g. [5 August 2020](https://www.mscbs.gob.es/profesionales/saludPublica/ccayes/alertasActual/nCov-China/documentos/Actualizacion_178_COVID-19.pdf)) published by the Ministry of Health note that "total cases [are] confirmed by PCR until 10 May, and by PCR and IgM (only if compatible symptoms) according to the new surveillance strategy from 11 May".

This could have indicated that Spain included positive antibody tests in their figures for confirmed cases. As we explain in [this FAQ](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#why-do-you-not-report-the-positive-rate-or-tests-per-case-for-all-countries-in-the-dataset), we do not present figures for the positive rate or number of tests per confirmed case for countries where we believe this to be the case.

However, this footnote importantly says that positive IgM results are only counted if they have "compatible symptoms", i.e. if patients are actively infected by the virus.

[This report](https://www.mscbs.gob.es/profesionales/saludPublica/ccayes/alertasActual/nCov-China/documentos/COVID19_Estrategia_vigilancia_y_control_e_indicadores.pdf) published on 9 July 2020 also makes clear on page 4 that IgM tests included in new confirmed cases do not correspond to massive serology testing for past infections, but rather to active, symptomatic infections with a negative PCR result but for which further IgM testing came back positive.

In the same way, the documentation published by the Carlos III Health Institute on [its COVID-19 website](https://cnecovid.isciii.es/covid19/#documentaci%C3%B3n-y-datos) states that "as of May 11, the Ministry of Health is counting the confirmed cases diagnosed by PCR (and in some specific cases those diagnosed by IgM by ELISA)", i.e. the inclusion of IgM does not mean the inclusion of massive antibody testing results, but rather specific instances where current infections are confirmed via IgM instead of PCR.

Pending new information that would prove otherwise, we therefore do not exclude Spain from the calculation of the positive rate and number of tests per case, as IgM tests for active cases represent a very small number and therefore should not affect these ratios.


ISO code: LKA
Entity: Sri Lanka - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: https://www.hpb.health.gov.lk
Source label: Sri Lanka Health Promotion Bureau
General source label: Sri Lanka Health Promotion Bureau
General source URL: https://www.hpb.health.gov.lk
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Sri Lankan Health Promotion Bureau provides a time series of the number of PCR tests performed every day since 18 February 2020. This data is available via [the Health Promotion Bureau's API](https://www.hpb.health.gov.lk/en/api-documentation). It is unclear whether the data includes pending test results.


ISO code: SWE
Entity: Sweden - people tested
Date: 2020-07-05
Source label: Swedish Public Health Agency
General source label: Sweden Public Health Agency
Short description: The number of people tested.
General source URL:
https://www.folkhalsomyndigheten.se/folkhalsorapportering-statistik/statistik-a-o/sjukdomsstatistik/covid-19-veckorapporter/

Detailed description:
From the start of the pandemic up until July 2020, the Swedish Public Health Agency provided weekly COVID-19 reports that provide information on the number of people tested. 

Since the source provides figures for the number of people tested per week, we take this to mean that people that have undergone more than one round of testing in different weeks over the course of the outbreak will be counted repeatedly. Our cumulative figures for testing are calculated by summing the weekly figures together. As such they will include duplicates for people undergoing multiple rounds of testing.

The first observation in the series is the total people tested from week 4 (calendar week: 20 - 26 January 2020) to week 8 (calendar week: 17 - 23 February 2020).


ISO code: SWE
Entity: Sweden - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-18
Source label: Swedish Public Health Agency
General source label: Sweden Public Health Agency
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
Since July 2020, the Public Health Agency has replaced its previous weekly updates of the number of people tested with the weekly count of tests performed. This data does not allow us to publish any cumulative total, since no data is available on how many tests had been performed prior to the first week of reporting. However, we integrate this data into our "daily tests" time series by dividing each weekly total by 7, thereby estimating the average daily number of tests performed.


ISO code: CHE
Entity: Switzerland - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-26
Source label: Federal Office of Public Health
General source label: Federal Office of Public Health
Short description: The number of tests perfomed.
General source URL:
https://www.bag.admin.ch/bag/en/home/krankheiten/ausbrueche-epidemien-pandemien/aktuelle-ausbrueche-epidemien/novel-cov/situation-schweiz-und-international.html

Detailed description:
The Federal Office of Public Health presents a time series of daily positive and negative tests, downloadable as a Excel spreadsheet on [their website](https://www.bag.admin.ch/bag/en/home/krankheiten/ausbrueche-epidemien-pandemien/aktuelle-ausbrueche-epidemien/novel-cov/situation-schweiz-und-international.html). A note states that: "The data published here is based on information that laboratories, doctors and hospitals have given us. They refer to reports that we received this morning and can therefore deviate from the figures that the cantons communicate."

At this page they also make available daily situation reports, which present the same figures, making it explicit that the numbers refer to PCR tests. 

The data can also be accessed by downloading the graphic software file in their [visualization here](https://covid-19-schweiz.bagapps.ch/de-3.html). This graphic notes that "Since several tests can be taken and reported per person, the number of positive tests is higher than the number of positively tested people".


ISO code: TWN
Entity: Taiwan - people tested
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: https://data.cdc.gov.tw/en/dataset/daily-cases-suspected-sars-cov-2-infection_tested
Source label: Taiwan CDC Open Data Portal
General source label: Taiwan CDC Open Data Portal
General source URL: https://data.cdc.gov.tw/en/dataset/daily-cases-suspected-sars-cov-2-infection_tested
Short description: The number of people tested.
Detailed description:
The Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (CDC) publishes a complete time series of the number of cases tested on its open data portal.

A technical specialist from the Taiwan CDC confirmed to Our World in Data that "in Taiwan, every notified case tests for SARS-CoV-2. The number of tests performed per notified case relate to the criteria for releasing COVID-19 confirmed cases from isolation, and the disease status of notified cases. There are three reporting portals provided for medical workers and public health workers to report a COVID-19 suspected case: "法定傳染病通報", "居家檢疫送驗", "擴大監測送驗". The number of COVID-19 related tests is the sum of column B(法定傳染病通報), C(居家檢疫送驗), and D(擴大監測送驗)."

The Taiwan CDC provides the daily number of cases suspected for SARS-CoV-2 Infection that have been tested. The mention of 'cases suspected' suggests that people undergoing multiple rounds of testing over the course of the pandemic may be repeatedly counted. However, no further details are provided by the source.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: THA
Entity: Thailand - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-09
Source URL: https://www3.dmsc.moph.go.th/
Source label: Ministry of Public Health
General source label: Department of Medical Sciences, Ministry of Public Health
General source URL: https://www3.dmsc.moph.go.th/
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Ministry of Public Health's Department of Medical Sciences publishes a complete time series of tests performed in Thailand since early January 2020.

This new time series includes individuals who do not meet the "persons under investigation" (PUI) criteria, and who paid out of pocket to get a PCR test. According to the Ministry of Health, this "non-PUI" group is large in proportion.


ISO code: TGO
Entity: Togo - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-25
Source label: Togo Ministry of Health
Notes: Provided to OWID directly by MOH
General source label: Togo Ministry of Health
General source URL: https://covid19.gouv.tg/
Short description: The number of samples tested.
Detailed description:
The Togo Ministry of Health provides daily updates on the number of samples tested via their [official government portal](https://covid19.gouv.tg/) and affiliated social media accounts on [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/Covid19TG/) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Covid19TG).

We are in direct contact with the MOH who provide daily updates on the number of samples tested. These figures are very similar to the sources listed above but differs a little due to internal MOH reporting delays. Our figures are more up-to-date. For example, for the 28 June 2020 the cumulative total of samples tested on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Covid19TG/status/1277362183840636929) is reported to be 30,316 samples while in the internal MOH figures it is 30,333. Please see the notes for each observation where we include a link to the corresponding MOH tweet for comparison, where available. 

The earliest observation is available from 4 March 2020.

The figures refer to the number of PCR tests performed each day.


ISO code: TUN
Entity: Tunisia - tests performed
Date: 2020-09-25
Source URL: https://covid-19.tn/fr/tableau-de-bord/
Source label: Tunisian Ministry of Health
General source label: Tunisian Ministry of Health
General source URL: https://covid-19.tn/fr/tableau-de-bord/
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Tunisian Ministry of Health dashboard provides a time series of daily figures for the cumulative number of tests performed to date, as well as a time series for the number of tests conducted per day. We include the former time series in our dataset. 

Only the latter time series is displayed in the dashboard, yet both time series are available at this [API endpoint](https://services6.arcgis.com/BiTAc9ApDDtL9okN/arcgis/rest/services/COVID19_Table_DATESetTOTAL/FeatureServer/0/query?f=json&where=Dates%3E%272020-01-01+00%3A00%3A00%27&returnGeometry=False&spatialRel=esriSpatialRelIntersects&outFields=Dates%2CNb_test%2CNb_tests_journalier&orderByFields=Dates+asc&resultOffset=0&resultRecordCount=32000&resultType=standard).

The earliest observation is available from 10 March 2020, at which point a total of 150 people had been tested.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: TUR
Entity: Turkey - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: https://covid19.saglik.gov.tr/TR-66935/genel-koronavirus-tablosu.html
Source label: Turkish Ministry of Health
General source label: Turkish Ministry of Health
General source URL: https://covid19.saglik.gov.tr/
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Turkish Ministry of Health now publishes a daily chart of Coronavirus confirmed cases, deaths, recoveries, total tests ("TOPLAM TEST SAYISI"), and tests today ("BUGÜNKÜ TEST SAYISI").

These daily charts are published on the Turkish Ministry of Health's website – previous versions can be found on Web Archive. This only extends back to 27 March 2020. Prior to this date, we rely on figures reported by the Turkish Minister for Health at daily press conferences. In these reports they detail the latest update of confirmed cases, deaths and tests conducted.

We are not aware of the date that testing began: only that as of 18 March 2020 – the first data point in our series – 10,018 tests had been conducted.

No other information concerning the figures is known.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: UGA
Entity: Uganda - samples tested
Date: 2020-10-24
Source URL: https://twitter.com/MinofHealthUG/status/1320276447873945600
Source label: Uganda Ministry of Health
General source label: Uganda Ministry of Health
General source URL: https://twitter.com/MinofHealthUG
Short description: The number of samples tested.
Detailed description:
The Uganda Ministry of Health publishes a daily press release detailing the number of cumulative and daily samples tested. As a result of changes in the way the data is published, we only report the cumulative total of samples tested when it is published by the official source.

From late June 2020, the press releases regularly include the official cumulative number of samples tested. Prior to this date, only daily testing figures were reported - with the exception of reports from 6–14 April 2020.

The earliest press release we could find that lists the cumulative and daily figures is for 1 April 2020. However, we cannot say with certainty when testing began and the precise date from which cumulative totals begin.


ISO code: UKR
Entity: Ukraine - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: https://covid19.gov.ua/en
Source label: Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine
General source label: Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine
General source URL: https://www.kmu.gov.ua/en
Short description: The number of tests performed
Detailed description:
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine provides [daily snapshots](https://covid19.gov.ua) that report the cumulative number of tests performed to date. 

It is unclear whether the reported figures include tests pending results.

In the daily snapshots, the wording used to report the cumulative testing figures does not make it clear as to whether the reported figures relate to the number of tests performed or the number of persons tested. For example, the cumulative testing figure reported on 6 August 2020 is "1,116,641 tested" (translated from "протестовано"). The [english version](https://covid19.gov.ua/en) of the same page reports the same figure as "total of tests", which is also unclear. [A more detailed dashboard](https://covid19.gov.ua/analitichni-paneli-dashbordy) on the same web domain provides testing figures in downloadable csv files dating back to 1 June 2020, where each csv file contains separate columns for the cumulative number of PCR tests and non-PCR tests. The cumulative PCR testing figures reported in these csv files are described as "The number of laboratory tests performed by PCR on COVID-19" ("Кількість проведених лабораторних досліджень методом ПЛР на COVID-19"), making it clear that the figures refer to the number of tests performed (which may or may not be equivalent to the number of people tested).

The cumulative PCR testing figures provided in the csv files tend to be approximately 2% smaller than the testing figures provided in the daily snapshots. Nevertheless, we assume that this discrepancy is due to small differences in the reference date, reporting laboratories included, or other minor details, rather than the possibility that the daily snapshot figures include non-PCR tests or refer to a metric other than the number of tests performed. The cumulative number of non-PCR tests reported in the csv files are much larger than the size of this discrepancy.

The earliest reported figure that we have been able to find is from 9 April 2020, at which point 20,608 cumulative tests were reported.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: ARE
Entity: United Arab Emirates - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-28
Source URL: https://fcsa.gov.ae/en-us/Pages/Covid19/UAE-Covid-19-Updates.aspx
Source label: UAE Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority
General source label: UAE Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority
General source URL: https://fcsa.gov.ae/en-us/Pages/Covid19/UAE-Covid-19-Updates.aspx
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The UAE Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority provides a time series dataset (available to download), including the number of daily tests conducted from 29 January 2020 to today.

The source notes "To ensure the highest possible quality and accuracy of the COVID-19 numbers, these data are regularly reviewed by UAE governmental authorities concerned. Numbers may change as the data are continuously refined."

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: GBR
Entity: United Kingdom - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-26
Source URL: https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/developers-guide
Source label: Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England
Notes: Sum of tests processed for pillars 1 and 2
General source label: Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England
General source URL: https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
Since late August 2020, the United Kingdom has been publishing a full retrospective time series of its testing data going back to April 2020 via [its coronavirus API](https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/developers-guide). We aggregate the data for the United Kingdom based only on two 'pillars':

- Pillar 1: number of lab-confirmed positive or negative COVID-19 pillar 1 test results by date reported. Pillar 1 testing includes swab testing for COVID-19 processed by NHS and (in England) PHE labs. This is a count of test results and may include multiple tests for an individual person. 
- Pillar 2: number of lab-confirmed positive or negative COVID-19 pillar 2 test results, by date reported. Pillar 2 testing includes swab testing for COVID-19 processed by commercial partners. Commercial partner testing was introduced in all parts of the UK in April but data are not available for all nations on a consistent basis. Step changes in the series occur when new data sources became available. 

For both pillars, we use the 'PillarOneTestsByPublishDate' and 'PillarTwoTestsByPublishDate' metrics to create of time series of PCR tests performed in the United Kingdom. These do not include tests delivered or sent out that have not been recorded as having been processed.

We do not include other pillars, i.e.:

- Pillar 3: this pillar consists (fully) of serology tests, which we aim not to include;
- Pillar 4: this pillar consists (partly) of serology tests, which we aim not to include, and positive tests results from this pillar seem not to be included in the government's total for positive cases.


ISO code: USA
Entity: United States - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-24
Source URL: https://healthdata.gov/sites/default/files/covid-19_diagnostic_lab_testing_20201026_0109.csv
Source label: Department of Health & Human Services
General source label: United States Department of Health & Human Services
General source URL: https://healthdata.gov/dataset/covid-19-diagnostic-laboratory-testing-pcr-testing-time-series
Short description:
The number of tests performed. The figures are the sum across states, some of which may include serology tests in addition to PCR tests.

Detailed description:
Since August 2020, our principal time series for the United States is based on the CSV file made available by the Department of Health & Human Services on HealthData.gov.

It "includes viral COVID-19 laboratory test (PCR) results from over 1,000 U.S. laboratories and testing locations including commercial and reference laboratories, public health laboratories, hospital laboratories, and other testing locations."

The source notes that "data presented here is representative of diagnostic specimens being tested - not individual people (...). Data presented might not represent the most current counts for the most recent 3 days due to the time it takes to report testing information. The data may also not include results from all potential testing sites within the jurisdiction (e.g., non-laboratory or point of care test sites) and therefore reflect the majority, but not all, of COVID-19 testing being conducted in the United States."

It is also explained in the description that the data "excludes serology tests where possible", which may indicate that not 100% of the tests included in the time series are PCR tests.


ISO code: USA
Entity: United States - units unclear (incl. non-PCR)
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: https://covidtracking.com/api/us/daily.csv
Source label: COVID Tracking Project
General source label: COVID Tracking Project
General source URL: http://covidtracking.com/
Short description:
The data are an aggregation of figures released by individual states. The Project aim to report on the number of people tested, including private labs, but not all states report their figures in this way. The figures for some states appear to include antibody tests in addition to PCR tests.

Detailed description:
This is a collaborative project launched in order to fill some of the important gaps in the testing figures being collated by the CDC.

Testing data is gathered from individual states, as reported in state health department websites, data dashboards and press releases from officials.

As of 26 May 2020, there have been a number of media reports noting that the testing figures released by some states include antibody tests in addition to PCR tests – as discussed in [this article](https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/05/cdc-and-states-are-misreporting-covid-19-test-data-pennsylvania-georgia-texas/611935/) in The Atlantic. Our dataset aims to report only PCR tests. But because some states do not disaggregate these types of tests we are not currently able to exclude the antibody tests.

Other differences across states include: some report the number of tests performed, others the number of people tested; some include private labs, others not; some report negative test results, others only positive test results; some include pending tests, others do not (below we show figures that exclude explicitly pending results).

Moreover, many states do not explicitly provide details about these important factors needed to interpret the data they provide. 

There are issues in comparing the figures over time. The totals given for early on in the outbreak do not include all states. One significant uncertainty is the extent to which the rapid rise in tests seen from the mid-March in part reflects states beginning to report private lab tests.

Overall the figures should be seen as providing a general indication of testing output, rather than a specific count of a given indicator. Given the very incomplete coverage and reporting delays of the CDC data, it provides a very important additional perspective.

The Project documents their work in lots of detail. See the link provided above for full details.


ISO code: URY
Entity: Uruguay - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-27
Source label: Ministry of Public Health
General source label: Ministry of Public Health
General source URL: https://www.gub.uy/ministerio-salud-publica/comunicacion/noticias
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Source URL:
https://www.gub.uy/ministerio-salud-publica/comunicacion/noticias/informacion-situacion-sobre-coronavirus-covid-19-uruguay-36

Detailed description:
The Ministry of Public Health in Uruguay publishes daily reports providing the cumulative total of tests performed. These figures are also made available on the [Sistema Nacional de Emergencias dashboard](https://www.gub.uy/sistema-nacional-emergencias/pagina-embebida/visualizador-casos-coronavirus-covid-19-uruguay), in which the figures are presented as the number of tests processed since 13 March 2020 ("Desde el 13 de marzo se han procesado: [N] test").

We previously reported testing data from a [dashboard maintained by El Observador](https://observador.cr/covid19-estadisticas/), but on 20 April 2020 we replaced the entire time series based on the reports from the Ministry of Health.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: VNM
Entity: Vietnam - samples tested
Date: 2020-10-15
Source label: Vietnam General Department of Preventive Medicine
General source label: Vietnam General Department of Preventive Medicine
General source URL: http://vncdc.gov.vn/vi/search?page=1&keyword=covid-19
Short description: The number of samples tested.
Source URL:
http://vncdc.gov.vn/vi/phong-chong-dich-benh-viem-phoi-cap-ncov/14099/ban-tin-cap-nhat-dich-benh-covid-19-ngay-15-10-2020

Detailed description:
The Vietnam General Department of Preventive Medicine provides daily COVID-19 bulletins that periodically report the cumulative number of samples tested to date. The bulletins extend back to 13 February 2020. We cannot say with certainty when testing began, only that 856 samples had been tested as of 13 February 2020.

We have been unable to find testing figures in any of the bulletins published between 29 April 2020 and 28 July 2020, with the exception of a 4 July 2020 bulletin reporting that 379,701 samples had been tested to date. From 29 July 2020 onwards, the bulletins make it clear that the testing figures relate to PCR tests only.

Some bulletins report the cumulative number of people tested alongside the cumulative number of samples tested. Oddly, the cumulative number of people tested is larger than the cumulative number of samples tested. For example, [the 18 September 2020 bulletin](http://vncdc.gov.vn/vi/phong-chong-dich-benh-viem-phoi-cap-ncov/14061/ban-tin-cap-nhat-dich-benh-covid-19-ngay-18-9-2020) reports 1,183,341 samples tested to date using PCR, while at the same time reporting 1,358,575 people tested to date. One possibility is that the reported number of people tested includes people tested using methods other than PCR. For this reason, we exclude the figures on the cumulative number of people tested from our dataset.

Bulletins published between 13 February 2020 and 28 April 2020 report the cumulative number of samples tested to date alongside the cumulative number of samples with positive test results and the cumulative number of samples with negative test results, which suggests that in this time period the total number of samples tested may be equivalent to the number of people tested. However, it is unclear whether samples with negative test results include instances of resampling for the same person.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


ISO code: ZMB
Entity: Zambia - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: https://zambia-open-data-nsdi-mlnr.hub.arcgis.com/pages/zambia-covid19
Source label: Government of Zambia
General source label: Zambia Ministry of Health
General source URL: https://zambia-open-data-nsdi-mlnr.hub.arcgis.com/pages/zambia-covid19
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Zambia Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, in collaboration with the Zambia Statistics Agency, provides a time series of the number of samples tested each day since 19 March 2020 in an [official dashboard](https://zambia-open-data-nsdi-mlnr.hub.arcgis.com/pages/zambia-covid19).

The dashboard data is sourced from daily reports produced by the [Ministry of Health](https://www.moh.gov.zm/) (published on their [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/mohzambia) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/mohzambia) pages) and the [Zambia National Public Health Institute (ZNPHI)](https://znphi.co.zm/news/situation-reports-new-coronavirus-covid-19-sitreps). 

To ensure accuracy, we have cross-checked a sample of the dashboard figures against the Ministry of Health and ZNPHI reports.

Official reports from the Ministry of Health and ZNPHI use the terminology "tests conducted" and "samples tested" interchangeably over time, with no indication that the choice of terminology represents a substantive difference in the reported figures.

The reported figures that are based on ZNPHI reports exclude pending test results, while it is unclear whether the reported figures from the Ministry of Health reports exclude pending test results. Nevertheless, pending test results represent a small fraction of overall tests, so this possible discrepancy is of minor consequence.


ISO code: ZWE
Entity: Zimbabwe - tests performed
Date: 2020-10-27
Source URL: https://twitter.com/MoHCCZim/status/1321161735047421953
Source label: Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child Care
General source label: Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child Care
General source URL: http://www.mohcc.gov.zw
Short description: The number of tests performed.
Detailed description:
The Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child Care provides daily press releases on its website and Twitter account ([@MoHCCZim](https://twitter.com/MoHCCZim)) that report the cumulative number of tests performed to date. The reported figures include positive, negative, and pending test results.

The press release for 6 May 2020 reported that 7,808 PCR and 8,244 "rapid screening" tests had been conducted to date. We exclude rapid screening tests from the daily time series that we construct, since we assume that these are antibody tests.

Prior to 6 May 2020, the press releases either: (a) reported a combined cumulative total of PCR and rapid screening tests without providing a breakdown between the two types of tests; or (b) did not clearly specify whether the reported cumulative total was in reference to PCR tests, antibody tests, or both. For this reason, the daily time series we construct begins on 6 May 2020, at which point the press releases began to clearly indicate that the reported cumulative totals only include PCR tests.

Note that, due to the way the data is presented by the official source, the time series may be impacted by retrospective revisions made by the source – see our [FAQ here](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#does-your-data-reflect-retrospective-updates-made-by-the-source).


