(Reuters) - There was a "noteworthy" rise in the number of positive results from worldwide drugs tests last year, the World Anti-Doping Agency said in a report released on Wednesday.
WADA's report showed banned substances were found in 4,822 samples from 300,565 tests (1.6 percent) carried out globally last year -- up from 1.26 percent in 2015, when there were 3,809 adverse analytical findings from 303,369 samples.
WADA’s 2016 Testing Figures Report marks the second set of global testing data since the revised World Anti-Doping Code came into effect at the start of 2015.
The figures, which summarise the results of all 2016 samples analysed by WADA-accredited laboratories, also showed there was a relative increase in the number of blood samples collected, to 7.75 percent in 2016 from 6.98 percent in 2015.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto,; Editing by Neville Dalton)
