RE: 5pm Hand**** Update on Testing16 Jul 2020 16:17
Coronavirus tests halted over safety fears, as Matt Han**** to make statement
This is Randox’s tests halted.
(It is a subscriber article so pasted all below)
Https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/16/coronavirus-tests-halted-safety-fears-matt-han****-make-statement/
Government has called a halt to Covid-19 tests used by the NHS because they may be unsafe
Coronavirus tests used by the NHS may be unsafe and have been halted, the government has announced.
Matt Han****, the Health Secretary is to make a statement in the House of Commons on Thursday afternoon about the problems with coronavirus kits, which could hamper widespread testing.
The Department of Health said that the NHS Test and Trace service had been notified that some test kits produced by Randox Laboratories may not meet required safety standards.
“As a precautionary measure and while we investigate further, NHS Test and Trace are requesting that all settings pause the use of Randox test kits with immediate effect and until further notice,” a government statement said.
“The risk to safety is low and test results from Randox kits are not affected.
“We will be supporting all testing settings to receive replacement kits as soon as possible.”
Randox was paid to carry out tests, both posted to individuals at home and administered at testing centres, as part of Mr Han****’s pledge to reach the target of 100,000 tests a day.
The company, based in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, supplies tests to more than 40 countries and won the second biggest contract for testing in the UK, worth £133 million. Only Hologic won a bigger contract worth £151 million.
However the government was criticised at the time after it emerged that Tory MP Owen Paterson receives £100,000 a year from Randox to act as a consultant.
Randox’s test results are available in less than hours as the tests and its analysers are capable of processing 54 patient samples simultaneously.
It is not the first time there has been problems with Randox during the pandemic. In May, testing was held up at the company’s lab in Northern Ireland when a machine stopped working properly.
The government was forced to send samples to a US laboratory for testing, but nearly 30,000 had to be voided because they were wrongly processed.
Samples have to be tested within 72 hours of the test being taken, which means that any delay in their processing could leave people with symptoms unsure if they have the virus.
Randox has not yet responded to the announcement.
Separately British company Diagnostics.ai has filed a claim in the High Court against the Government over the selection testing of companies by the government.
The company claims that based on testing of 100,000 a day, 1,000 tests a week are being falsely diagnosed as negative, meaning large numbers of people do not know they have the disease and so are not self isolating.
Professor Brian Glenville, Chairman of Diagnost
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