At least 43,000 people may have been wrongly given a negative Covid test result, the UK Health Security Agency has said, as it announced the suspension of operations at a privately run lab in Wolverhampton.
The announcement comes after dozens of people reported receiving a negative result after using a Covid PCR test, having got a positive result from their rapid lateral flow test, prompting scientists to call for an urgent investigation.
Three people discuss how they feel about the reliability of PCR tests.
‘Is the number of cases actually higher than they are saying at the minute?’
On 21 September, my lateral flow test result showed up as positive, so I immediately self-isolated and booked a walk-through PCR test. While waiting for the PCR results, I did another lateral flow test, which was also positive. I was really confused as my lateral flow tests continued to show a positive result – all seven of them over a 10-day period. However, three PCR tests came back negative. I called the test-and-trace number for advice after the second PCR result came back negative and they said I did not need to self-isolate as the PCR tests were the better-quality test.
However, I decided I would self-isolate for 10 days as it felt very risky to not do so. It did slightly give me pause for thought as to how reliable PCR tests are, as they’re held up as the gold standard. It would be good to get more information as to what happened in Wolverhampton and how it’s gone terribly wrong. Are the number of cases actually higher than they are telling us at the minute? We seem to just be living with the virus but not getting the full picture of what’s going on. Jessica, 28, research administrator, Sheffield
‘I still don’t know if I have Covid or not’James Calderwood carried on wearing a mask despite having taken a negative PCR test.
We had gone away at the beginning of September and me, my partner, who’s a teacher, and my 11-year-old son were all feeling awful, me especially. My first thought was I had Covid, so I did a lateral flow test, which came up positive. The next day I did a PCR test, which came back negative. A few days later my son was in a room with five other boys who all came down with Covid, but when he did a PCR test it came back negative. In the meantime, I started to feel worse, so I did another lateral flow test followed by a PCR test and the results were the same – positive then negative.
I have my 84-year-old mother staying with me, so it’s very concerning. I’ve been cautious, like wearing a face mask, and I’m fortunate in that I’m able to work remotely, but I still don’t know if I have Covid or not. In light of the situation in Wolverhampton, it’s very worrying to know I could have been passing the virus on to others. It’s important that we can trust these tests. If we don’t get this right, then it means the pandemic will last a lot longer and take us longer to recover. James Calderwood, 61, film editor, Bristol
‘I’m left wondering if my other children had Covid. I guess we’ll never know’Lisa and Tim Harris. Lisa says her husband tested negative despite having classic Covid symptoms.
My husband, Tim, 52, developed a temperature on 7 October, so he went for a PCR test in Morden. He also took a lateral flow test, which was positive. The rest of the household took PCRs, and on the next day all of ours came back negative, including my husband’s. At this point, he had textbook Covid symptoms, and another lateral flow test was positive. Two of our three kids had already had runny noses since 4 October, so we’d immediately removed them from school. My son was desperate to go to a football tournament, and since his PCR was negative, it wouldn’t have been against school rules. But I said he could only go if he did a lateral flow test – which was positive. I decided to keep all my children home and we all self-isolated.
I saw on Twitter that there was an issue with false negatives, so I called the UK Health Security Agency to say we were experiencing the same. They told me they were aware of the issue, but there was no system in place to record cases where this may be happening. I believe PCRs have been very effective during the pandemic, but I’m concerned by what went wrong at the Wolverhampton lab. My husband and son’s Covid infections were picked up by a second PCR test on 8 October. I’m left wondering if my other children’s runny noses were in fact Covid, but I guess we’ll never know. Lisa Harris, 39, antenatal teacher, Wimbledon
