UK Government's Fatal Lab Error, 1,300 People Are Wrongly Diagnosed With COVID-19

JAKARTA - One of the samples - although this is also intolerable - may still make sense. But if the error is up to 1,300 samples? This is what happened to a government-owned laboratory, the NHS Test and Trace.

The lab was recently found out that they were wrong to produce test results on more than 1,300 people in the UK. They tested positive for COVID-19.

"The NHS Test and Trace has contacted 1,311 people who were falsely informed that the results of their COVID-19 test, taken on November 19-23, were positive," said a spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Protection.

Reporting from Antara, citing Reuters, the results were revealed on Saturday, November 28 local time.

"Problems with chemicals for testing in one group at that time meant that the test results were canceled. Quick steps have been taken with notification to them, and they have been asked to retest, and continue to self-isolate if they do experience symptoms," the spokesman said. he added.

The spokesman called the laboratory error a "lone accident" and is being investigated.

The NHS Test and Trace system has received a lot of criticism. There have been a string of errors since it launched earlier this year. A number of ministers there admitted that the system's performance was not as good as expected.

In September, nearly 16,000 positive case records for COVID-19 disappeared from the system over several days, creating delays in contact tracing. The government blames a "derivative" file system for cutting data after 65,000 lines of data entry.

According to a Reuters count, to date there have been around 1.6 million cases of COVID-19 infection in the UK and more than 57,500 deaths.

The UK government previously announced an additional £ 7 billion (Rp.131 trillion) for the COVID-19 contact tracing and testing system as part of a follow-up program of mass testing.