Covid-19 Patients Let Go After Test Sample Mix-up

Two people infected with Covid-19 were allowed to leave a testing centre set up at AsiaWorld-Expo on Friday and make their way back home instead of being taken to a hospital isolation ward, after their test samples were accidentally switched with two others who were free of the virus.

The Hospital Authority (HA) said on Saturday that while the two infected people went home to self-quarantine themselves for 14 days, two others were being held at AsiaWorld-Expo in the mistaken belief that their preliminary tests had come back positive.

"Two people who had returned directly to their registered residence tested positive for Covid-19 in the repeat test. The HA has immediately reported the cases to the Centre for Health Protection. The two patients have been transferred to hospitals for isolation treatment and are in stable condition now," the authority said in a statement.

The two people originally facing a stay in hospital were eventually allowed to go home for self-quarantine after getting the all clear in further tests.

The HA said it believed the samples might have been swapped in the laboratory and it apologised for the inconvenience caused to the four people involved in the mix-up.

"The staff may have wanted to help speed things up to issue the results, so might not have stuck so tightly to the procedures," said Dr Linda Yu, a chief manager at the Hospital Authority.

"So after the incident, we have further monitoring of the procedures to ensure they are strictly followed," she added.

The authority also noted that the testing facilities had been set up in a short period of time, and thanked all the staff involved in the arrangements.

Since Friday, anybody flying into Hong Kong with symptoms of the new coronavirus are being taken to either AsiaWorld-Expo or North Lantau Hospital to be tested for Covid-19, with those found to be infected taken to public hospitals.

A separate measure introduced by the government in light of the pandemic means that arrivals from anywhere in the world, other than Taiwan and Macau, must quarantine themselves for 14 days, even if they are not showing any symptoms.

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