A virologist with the Noguchi Institute for Medical Research, Professor William Ampofo, has tried to bring some clarity to the issue of actual Covid-19 tests conducted by Ghana so far.
According to him, the testing laboratories for Covid-19 have carried out close to 30,000 samples since the president’s last address.
President Akufo-Addo had said more than 68,000 tests had been conducted with results of a further 18,000 expected in the days after that.
At the government’s press briefing Wednesday, Professor Ampofo justified the test figures, saying the laboratories have the latest equipment to carry out multiple tests.
His comments follow controversies over the number of tests Ghana has the capacity to carry as against the number of persons government has said it has tested for Covid-19 so far.
Providing further clarity on the matter, Prof Ampofo said every result of test samples reported by the Ghana Health Service were those of the reported number of individuals.
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Many people have questioned the number given by government which was pegged at more than 68,000 as of Sunday but the virologist said as of Tuesday, they had processed 76,921 samples and tested 70,921.
“The backlog of a little over 6,000 will be completed by close of week”, he added.
He also disclosed that the KCCR had, as of yesterday, processed 25,219 samples with 15,380 tested.
He added that whatever figures the GHS had reported were individual tests and not samples.