“Test, test, test,” was the message from the World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to the countries fighting the COVID‑19 pandemic. They “cannot fight blindfolded,” he said, underscoring the importance of mass testing for slowing virus transmission as well as understanding how the disease spreads and when the restrictive measures can be lifted.
So how many people have been tested for the novel coronavirus in Ukraine so far?
The Center for Public Health doesn’t disclose this data.
However, the dashboard of the National Health Service shows that 19,649 people have been suspected to have the coronavirus since the beginning of the outbreak. This number doesn’t include those who were in contact with confirmed COVID‑19 patients.
Ukraine only tests people showing symptoms who sought medical help, people diagnosed with pneumonia, those who returned from abroad and people who were in contact with confirmed patients. It means that many cases are uncounted.
By April 22, a total of 67,520 samples were tested using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method, according to the Center for Public Health. But that doesn’t reflect the actual number of people tested because one person can be — and often is — tested more than once.
A month ago, the country reported under 1,000 tested samples in total. While the testing has been scaled up, the number is still far below other countries.
Ukraine reported 5,000 tests administered within 24 hours for the first time on April 18.
There’s also a limited amount of data on testing in the regions: Except for daily reports on suspected patients and confirmed patients, it’s unknown whether and how many people were traced and tested as contacts of a suspected virus carrier. Nor is there information on the testing capacity of regional laboratories.
Ukraine’s testing capacity is limited by weak health infrastructure, understaffing, and outdated equipment. Shortages of testing supplies and lab personnel or insufficient training of general practitioners may affect testing too.
Read more: Flying blind? Disorder, shortages undermine large-scale COVID-19 testing in Ukraine
Daily reports from Ukraine’s regions have varied: Some showed exponential or gradual growth in infections, while others stagnated at the same number for weeks.
Case in point: Mykolayiv Oblast had zero cases and few suspected patients until two weeks ago. When that grew suspicious, the health ministry paid a visit. The inspection revealed errors in following the national algorithm for identifying and testing suspected patients, top sanitary doctor Viktor Lyashko said. A day later, the region reported its first two cases of COVID‑19 on April 12, and the number has been growing since.
Comparing data on testing in different countries is tricky. There is no unified standard for reporting.
Some countries report on the number of people tested or the total tests administered. Ukraine reports on the number of samples tested. Italy does the number of “swabs.”
Moreover, countries are at different stages of the outbreak and have different testing strategies and capacities. They also vary in size and density of population, demographics, migration patterns, and the degrees of restrictions imposed.
As of April 22, over 2.6 million people were infected with COVID‑19 around the world, nearly 185,000 died and almost 725,000 recovered.
Here’s how Ukraine’s testing numbers compare to some of its neighbors, European countries and the U.S., as well as Australia and South Korea, which successfully contained the spread of the virus.
