| 23 |
ECU |
Ecuador - people tested |
2020-10-25 |
https://www.gestionderiesgos.gob.ec/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/INFOGRAFIA-NACIONALCOVID19-COE-NACIONAL-08h00-25102020.pdf |
Government of Ecuador |
Sum of confirmados and descartados |
218 |
465301 |
26.373 |
10124 |
0.574 |
5775 |
0.327 |
|
|
Government of Ecuador |
https://www.gestionderiesgos.gob.ec/informes-de-situacion-covid-19-desde-el-13-de-marzo-del-2020/ |
The number of people tested. |
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. |