Testing for coronavirus infections has plummeted across the globe, making it much tougher for scientists to track the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and spot new, worrisome viral variants as they emerge and spread.

Experts say testing has dropped by 70% to 90% worldwide from the first to the second quarter of this year — the opposite of what they say should be happening with new Omicron subvariants on the rise in places such as the United States and South Africa.

“We’re not testing anywhere near where we might need to,” said Dr. Krishna Udayakumar, who directs the Global Health Innovation Center at Duke University. “We need the ability to ramp up testing as we’re seeing the emergence of new waves or surges to track what’s happening” and respond.

As of Friday, reported daily cases in the U.S. were averaging 87,382 over the last week, up nearly 60% over the last two weeks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID Data Tracker.

But that is a vast undercount because of the testing downturn and the fact that tests are being taken at home and not reported to health departments. An influential modeling group at the University of Washington in Seattle estimates that only 13% of cases are being reported to health authorities in the U.S. — which would mean more than a half-million new infections every day.
https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2022-05-14/pandemic-gets-tougher-to-track-as-covid-testing-plunges