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Link DetailsCHP apologises for reports oversight (To watch the full press briefing with sign language interpretation, click here.)
The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) today apologised for mistaking laboratory reports of two patients who tested negative for COVID-19 as positive results.
Its Communicable Disease Branch Head Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan reported the incident at a press briefing this afternoon, explaining that both patients, who were included in the confirmed cases on August 2, had a positive laboratory result according to the screening programme of the Social Welfare Department and the Home Affairs Department.
"We received the preliminary positive result and then we managed them as positive cases. And then, because their specimens were sent to our laboratory for confirmation, so when the reports were sent back to us, we thought that it was a positive result, but actually they were negative."
Dr Chuang explained that the centre discovered the error when counterchecking the laboratory results.
One of the patients, who was on the way to the community treatment facility at AsiaWorld-Expo, was sent to Princess Margaret Hospital for further testing.
The other patient was still home. She was advised to observe her health after being notified by the CHP of the negative result.
Dr Chuang said: "We apologise for this error and we will try to see how we can improve the counterchecking of the result with the laboratory and ourselves."
Meanwhile, the CHP said it is investigating 80 additional COVID-19 cases, all of which are locally transmitted. Fifty-six of them are linked to other cases while 24 are those with unknown infection sources.
Additionally, the Hospital Authority reported that 1,243 confirmed COVID-19 patients are currently hospitalised and 2,037 confirmed and suspected patients have been discharged.
For information and health advice on COVID-19, visit the Government's dedicated webpage. |
