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Summary
- World has seen almost 150 million COVID-19 cases till now.
- Of them, 3.13 million people have lost their lives.
- However only 27% of earth’s population has been tested for deadly virus till now.
The world is grappling with a deadly second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many countries, like India, Turkey, and Brazil, as of date, are reporting infections and deaths at alarming rates.
However, to report the cases accurately, the countries will have to test their populations for COVID-19. While globally countries have administered over 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines, 2.14 billion tests have been done till now. In percentage terms, it makes for 27.38% of the world’s 7.8 billion population.
Also Read: COVID-19: World comes to rescue as oxygen shortage chokes India
Despite a sizeable number of these tests, they aren’t evenly distributed – some countries are testing faster, while others are laggards. Of the 210 countries and geographical locations for which the data is available, a paltry 36 have tested their entire population.
Here are the five countries/geographical territories that have seen the highest testing:
Source: Worldometer. Kalkine Graphics
Gibraltar: This British Overseas Territory bordering Spain in the north and Mediterranean Sea on other sides, is home to 33,683 people. Since the onset of the pandemic, Gibraltar’s administration has carried out 230,550 tests. This translates to 6.84 million tests for every one million people – or, in simpler terms, every person in Gibraltar has been tested almost seven times for COVID-19.
Denmark: The healthcare system of this Nordic country is famous globally – all its citizens enjoy universal, equal and free healthcare services. So, it comes as no surprise that Denmark would be at the forefront of testing its population for COVID-19. For its 5.81 million people, the country has conducted 35.63 million tests – which translates into six tests for every Dane.
Faroe Islands: Although this island is part of Denmark only, yet it is a self-governing archipelago. As many as 49,015 people call this archipelago home and a total of 251,001 tests have been conducted till now. This would mean that every resident of Faroe Islands has been tested five times for COVID-19.
UAE: This middle eastern oil rich country started drive-in testing for all its residents in a bid to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. For its population base of about 10 million people, the gulf country has conducted 43.28 million tests – which in turn, means that every Emirati resident has been tested 4.3 times for COVID-19 since its onset.
Luxembourg: This small European country, surrounded by Belgium, France and Germany, is home to 634,267 people, and has conducted 2.62 million COVID-19 tests till now – an impressive four tests for each of its residents since the onset of pandemic.
Other countries that have carried out more tests than their population are:
