Coronavirus
Hundreds given false-negative COVID results in Australia
The lab has since switched to what it views as more reliable testing methods
December 28, 2021 11:06pm
Updated: December 29, 2021 11:20am
Hundreds of people were incorrectly told they were negative for COVID-19 by a lab in Sydney, Australia, the BBC reports.
The false-negative results were given over the Christmas season amid skyrocketing cases, according to the report Monday.
The "data processing error" occurred as Australian health officials are reporting a massive backlog in swabbing tests.
The mistake by SydPath lab affected 886 people, but earlier this week, the lab initially only admitted to giving false-negative results to about 400 people on Christmas Day.
The lab has since apologized and said it has switched to more reliable testing methods.
