The daily test-positivity rate for COVID-19 stands above 20% for the last days in Georgia. According to the data from Stopcov.ge, new confirmed cases of COVID-19 (15,700) and the number of tests (74,200) conducted on coronavirus for the last days are breaking all records in the country.
Georgia is ahead of all countries by the number of conducted tests in the region. According to Our World in Data, 13 tests are conducted per thousand people daily worldwide. As for the region, the figure stands at 4.7 in Turkey, 3.7 - in Russia, 1.6 - in Armenia and 0.9 - in Azerbaijan. Since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 12 million tests have been conducted in Georgia.
As a result, a new – COVId-19 testing industry has emerged in the country, with an annual turnover of more than GEL 100 million. Before the pandemic, in 2019 Georgia bought various medical tests worth 15 million a year, in 2020 the cost of imported tests tripled to USD 46.3 million, while in 2021 the figure increased by an additional 24% to USD 57.5 million. If the share of COVID-19 tests was USD 40-45 million, it turned out that the country spent GEL 125-140 million on the import of tests alone, and if the testing service was provided at the same price that was generally in pharmacy chains (20% -25%), expenditures on tests ranged from GEL 150-175 million.
During 2021, Georgia purchased medical tests (diagnostic reagents) from the following countries:
1) Germany – USD 11.8 million;
2) South Korea - USD 10.9 million;
3) India - USD 10.1 million;
4) The Netherlands - USD 7.7 million;
5) Turkey - USD 3.9 million.
