The UK Health Security Agency said the Immensa Health Clinic Ltd. lab in Wolverhampton, central England, has been suspended from processing swabs after the false negatives
The agency said it was 'an isolated incident attributed to one laboratory'. Representation pic
British health officials said Friday that 43,000 people may have been wrongly told they don’t have the coronavirus because of problems at a private laboratory. The UK Health Security Agency said the Immensa Health Clinic Ltd. lab in Wolverhampton, central England, has been suspended from processing swabs after the false negatives.
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Will Welfare, the agency’s public health incident director, said it was working “to determine the laboratory technical issues” behind the inaccurate tests. The issue was uncovered after some people who were positive for Covid-19 when they took rapid tests went on to show up as negative on more accurate PCR tests.
The health agency said that “around 400,000 samples have been processed through the lab, the vast majority of which will have been negative results, but an estimated 43,000 people may have been given incorrect negative PCR test results,” mostly in southwest England.
Workers block port operations at the Giuseppe-Canepa seafront in Liguria, on Friday as new restrictions come into effect. Pic/AFP
The incorrect results were given between Sept. 8 and October 12. The agency said it was “an isolated incident attributed to one laboratory” and people affected would be contacted and advised to get another test. Immensa was awarded a 119 million-pound ($163 million) coronavirus-testing contract by the British government in October 2020. Chief executive Andrea Riposati said the company was “fully collaborating” with UK health authorities.
Australian state to end quarantine for vaccinated travellers
Australia’s most populous state New South Wales said on Friday it would end hotel quarantine for vaccinated international travelers as the government accelerates the wind back of pandemic restrictions. State Premier Dominic Perrottet announced that vaccinated travelers who tested negative to Covid-19 before flying to Sydney would be spared 14 days in hotel quarantine from Nov. 1.
‘Fully vaccinated can enter US from Nov 8’
Foreign travellers who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, will be able to enter the US from November 8, the White House said on Friday. Kevin Munoz, White House Press Secretary, said that this announcement applies to both international air travel and land travel.
Protests over Italy’s workplace Covid pass rule
Protests erupted in Italy as one of the most stringent anti-coronavirus measures in Europe went into effect Friday, requiring all workers, from magistrates to maids, to show a health pass to get into their place of employment. Police were out in force, schools planned to end classes early and embassies issued warnings of possible violence amid concerns that the anti-vaccination demonstrations could turn violent, as they did in Rome last weekend.
4,63,378
No. of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours
23,90,07,759
Total no. of cases worldwide
48,71,841
Total no. of deaths worldwide
Source: WHO/Johns Hopkins
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