British health officials said Friday that an estimated 43,000 people could have been mistakenly told they did not have COVID-19 due to problems with tests at private laboratories.
The Immensa Health Clinic Lab in Wolverhampton, England, has been suspended from processing test swaps after false negative reports have surfaced.Defective test results are one of the tests processed at the facility between early September and this week, UK Health and Safety officials said. Said..
According to the agency, “about 400,000 samples were processed in the lab, most of which had negative results, but an estimated 43,000 people could have been given false negative PCR test results.”
The UK Health and Security Agency seems to downplay speculation that the problem is widespread, saying the false result is “an isolated incident caused by one laboratory.” Affected individuals will be contacted and told to undergo another test, the agency continued.
“The number of tests performed in the Immensa lab is small in the context of a wider network, and test availability is not affected nationwide,” the sample sent to the facility was “redirected” to another lab. I added that. ..
The West Berkshire Council, a local government in the United Kingdom, is negative about retesting people tested at the government-run Newbury Showground site between October 3 and October 12. I was told there was.
Immensa Health Clinic was founded in May 2020, months after the pandemic began, and reportedly has won a $ 234 million contract to process PCR test results.
Andrea Liposati, CEO of the company, said in a statement in a UK government news release that he was “fully cooperating” with the investigation. I didn’t want to hurt the amazing work I did in. ” Pandemic. “
In addition to Immensa Health Clinic, Riposati also operates Dante Labs. DanteLabs is being investigated by the UK’s Competitive Markets Authority on another issue with allegations of failure to provide PCR test results. Reuters..
Some scientists have warned that false negatives may have allowed the spread of COVID-19.
“Currently, it is believed that 43,000 people have been given false negatives, but this is not even close to the price of mistakes,” Kit Yates, who works at the University of Bath’s Department of Mathematical Sciences, told the news agency. .. “Many of these people will be sent to school or do work that can infect others. That’s why we’ve seen a recent rise. It may be part. “
The UK conducts about 1 million CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus tests a day and reports about 40,000 new infections a day in the past week. The CCP virus, also known as coronavirus, causes COVID-19.
The Epoch Times has contacted the Immensa Health Clinic for additional comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Jack phillips
Breaking News Reporter
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Jack Phillips is the latest news reporter for The Epoch Times, based in New York.