Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo claimed in a speech that his country had administered more COVID-19 tests per million people than any other country in Africa.
“Our country has administered more tests per million people than any other country in Africa, and, in fact, the World Health Organization... has reached out to us to share our sample-pooling experience with other African countries, so they can adopt this strategy and also ramp up their testing capabilities,” he said in his ninth address on the crisis., , He also urged Ghanaians to disregard politicians who allege the country’s COVID-19 numbers represent a failure on the part of the government because “they need to make such comments for their political survival”., Akufo-Addo is left with barely a year to complete his first term in office, and is facing a tough fight for reelection in December against former leader John Mahama., At least 5,127\xa0people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Ghana as of May 12, 2020, making it the worst-hit country in the West African\xa0region. The government has extended the closure of its borders until May 31, 2020, to try to stem the\xa0virus spread., Akufo-Addo’s claim about leading Africa in tests per million inhabitants was featured in several local and international news reports, including by\xa0Africa News and The New York Times., But the claim is false. To verify this, AFP compared available data from Ghana to that of five other countries: Nigeria, the most populous African nation; South Africa, which has administered the highest number of tests overall according to the Africa Centres\xa0for Disease Control and Prevention; and Mauritius, Botswana and Djibouti, because while much smaller in population, these countries have conducted relatively high numbers of tests., Of these five, AFP found that Nigeria and Botswana rank lower than Ghana in COVID-19 tests per million people, while South Africa, Djibouti and Mauritius rank higher., This figure is calculated by dividing the country’s number of COVID-19 tests by its total population, and then multiplying the result by one million., According to official figures from each country\xa0as of May 10, 2020, Nigeria had conducted 27,078 COVID-19 tests; South Africa, 341,336 tests; Ghana, 160,501 tests (see 4’25” in the president’s speech); Botswana, 9,540 tests;\xa0 Mauritius, 73,572 tests; and Djibouti, 15,304 tests., This, in comparison with the five countries’ population figures, gives us the following rankings:, When President Akufo-Addo made the claim, Ghana had conducted 5,300\xa0tests for every million\xa0inhabitants --\xa0higher than Nigeria’s 135\xa0tests per million and Botswana’s 4,079\xa0tests per million but below South Africa (5,808\xa0per million), Djibouti (15,713\xa0per million), and Mauritius (57,931\xa0per million)., AFP has contacted the Ghanaian presidency for comment but has not yet received a response., , Copyright © AFP 2017-2020.  All rights reserved.  Users can access and consult this website and use the share features available for personal, private, and non-commercial purposes.  Any other use, in particular any reproduction, communication to the public or distribution of the content of this website, in whole or in part, for any other purpose and/or by any other means, without a specific licence agreement signed with AFP, is strictly prohibited.  The subject matter depicted or included via links within the Fact Checking content is provided to the extent necessary for correct understanding of the verification of the information concerned.  AFP has not obtained any rights from the authors or copyright owners of this third party content and shall incur no liability in this regard.  AFP and its logo are registered trademarks.
Ghana leader falsely claims his country fronts Africa's COVID-19 testing | AFP Fact Check