Test and trace operations suspended in private lab after 43,000 incorrect Covid tests

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The UK’s Health Security Agency said operations at a private laboratory in Wolverhampton have been suspended after an estimated 43,000 people, mostly in southwest England, received an incorrect Covid test result.

Below are several reports of people who received a negative PCR test result after a previously positive result was returned via a lateral flow device (LFD).

The lab is owned by Immensa Health Clinic, a private company that was first established in May 2020 and later handed a £120m contract by the government to provide testing services to the UK.

The NHS Test and Trace estimates that about 400,000 samples have been processed through the lab. 43,000 incorrect test results were delivered between 8 September and 12 October, according to UKHSA.

The authorities are contacting infected individuals who are still contagious to inform them of another test.

“We have recently seen an increasing number of positive LFD results that subsequently tested negative for PCR,” said Dr Will Welver, UKHSA Public Health Incident Manager.

“As a result of our investigation, we are working with NHS Test and Trace and the company to identify lab technical issues that resulted in people being issued inaccurate PCR results. We have immediately stopped testing in this lab while we continue to investigate.”

The UKHSA said there were no technical issues with the LFD or PCR test kits themselves. She added that the incident was specific to one laboratory in Wolverhampton, where all samples are now being redirected elsewhere for processing.

However, other labs have had testing problems in recent weeks. On Friday, West Berkshire Council said that some tests at the Newbury Showground testing site, which is run by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), “have been sent results that may incorrectly appear as negative for Covid-19”.

“After receiving reports from local residents in recent weeks of concerns about the accuracy of test results from the site, we have moved those concerns to the Department of Homeland Security for further investigation,” the council said in a statement.

“The DHSC has now confirmed that a number of sites nationally may have been affected by this issue, including the one on the Newbury Showground.”

Those who got a negative PCR test result between October 3 and 12, in addition to their close contacts, were “strongly” encouraged by the local authority to get another test.

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