'LESS THAN 100' patients were given false negative test results for coronavirus, the Health Service Executive (HSE) have said.
In a statement released yesterday, the HSE said an error in the laboratories which gave indeterminate results were reported back to some patients as a negative result, when in fact they had contracted the virus.
The statement, seen by RTÉ News, goes on to say that in ordinary circumstances the patients would have been retested, but due to the timing restrictions, it was not possible as the virus would likely have left the person's system.
The Health Service Executive are confident that no additional patients have been impacted by the error (Image: RollingNews.ie)The 'indeterminate' results were reviewed by the National Virus Reference Laboratory where it was found that some were in fact 'weakly positive', and that less than 100 people were wrongly told they had tested negative.
The HSE continued in their statement to say that a team of public health clinicians have since contacted or attempted to contact those who had received a false negative in order to advise them on their correct result.
RTÉ News reports that the HSE do not believe any further patients have been impacted by the error.
The Republic of Ireland has a total of 10,647 confirmed cases of Covid-19 as of 13 April.
365 people have passed away after contracting the virus.
