| 32 |
GHA |
Ghana - samples tested |
2020-10-21 |
https://www.ghanahealthservice.org/covid19/archive.php |
Outbreak Response Management Situation Update |
|
179 |
518785 |
16.695999999999998 |
1521 |
0.049 |
1740 |
0.055999999999999994 |
0.027999999999999997 |
36.358000000000004 |
Outbreak Response Management |
https://www.ghanahealthservice.org/covid19/ |
The number of samples tested. |
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. |