Covid-19 test blunder: 30 false positives in Dordrecht

Thirty people were wrongly diagnosed with the coronavirus by a laboratory in Dordrecht. The malfunction of a test device caused the false positive test results, the laboratory said in a statement.

"We saw on the evening of June 3 that more positive results emerged from the tests than expected, considering the trend. We immediately launched an investigation into this, which led to a 'too strict' device," the Regionaal Laboratorium Medische Microbiologie (RLM) said.

"We immediately repeated all positive tests performed on this device since the last maintenance on May 26. The thirty 'false positives' emerged from this," RLM stated. There were no false negatives as a result of the error.

The laboratory and the Albert Schweitzer Hospital, which works with the laboratory, have both said they regret what happened and apologized to the patients involved. RLM said it fixed the machine, and therre have been no irregularities since then.

Two people have filed a complaint over the incident," according to broadcaster NOS.