Rate of COVID-19 testing in most impacted countries worldwide as of May 17, 2022

As of May 17, 2022, the United States had performed the ninth most COVID-19 tests per one million population among the countries most severely impacted by the pandemic. The U.S. has conducted over one billion COVID-19 tests in total.

Testing is the key to controlling virus

The World Health Organization sent a clear message to all countries in March 2020: test, test, and test. The more tests that are conducted, the easier it becomes to track the spread of the virus and reduce transmission. Many countries followed the advice, identifying a greater number of cases at an earlier stage, isolating infected individuals, and limiting the spread of the disease to others. As cases numbers have decreased in some regions so have restrictions, however many countries still require negative test results before entering the country.

What is an antibody test?

Countries around the world made widespread testing a key part of their plans to exit lockdown. However, the global demand for antibody test kits has been huge. The kits are used to identify antibodies in a person’s blood sample. The presence of antibodies means the individual has been exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and developed antibodies to help fight it. Antibody tests are important in detecting infections in people who are asymptomatic, i.e., showing few or no symptoms. Asymptomatic carriers may have unwittingly contributed to the rapid spread of the disease.