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Fiona Sun

Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority has identified suspected Covid-19 contamination in a batch of flocked swabs used in five public hospitals, with two patients found to have shown false positive results.
The authority said on Saturday that a laboratory at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Kwai Chung detected weak positive results for Covid-19 in some of the flocked swab samples after routine tests were conducted on a batch of specimen collection kits.
Following the discovery, authorities took immediate action, including suspending all flocked swabs from the supplier, enhancing the testing of specimen collection kits delivered in January, and reviewing test results of patients who had used affected swabs.
“The Hospital Authority is following up on this event stringently and has notified the Department of Health,” an authority spokesman said.
“We have demanded that the supplier of the flocked swabs concerned thoroughly investigate its quality control and testing records, provide an explanation, and implement remedial measures.
“The Hospital Authority does not rule out taking further action to hold the supplier accountable.”
The flocked swabs were procured from a local supplier and delivered to the public hospitals of Kowloon West, including Caritas Medical Centre, Kwai Chung Hospital, North Lantau Hospital, Princess Margaret Hospital and Yan Chai Hospital, between January and the end of April.
About 27,000 flocked swabs from the lot concerned were used in the hospitals.


The authority conducted repeated testing on 100 samples from the same lot of flocked swabs and identified 18 samples that showed weak positive results for Covid-19.
Cases of patients who used affected flocked swabs for Covid-19 testing from January were also reviewed by the authority.
A 91-year-old female patient at the Princess Margaret Hospital and an 82-year-old male patient at Yan Chai Hospital were identified as potentially testing false positive.
Both patients had CT values above 38, showed no obvious respiratory infection symptoms, and immediately tested negative on repeated testing. No antiviral medication was prescribed, and both patients were discharged.
The authority’s microbiology experts analysed the test results and estimated that the swabs were contaminated before being sent to the hospitals as they were sealed in packaging.
After consulting the experts, the authority determined that the residual virus on the contaminated flocked swabs was biologically inactive and non-infectious, and posed no health risk to patients who were tested with them.
It added that the recent Covid-19 positive rates in the hospitals remained comparable with other hospital clusters.
The authority said it would continue to follow up with health authorities and the supplier, which would be required to provide quality control records and testing certifications to prove that their testing supplies met the requirements.


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Two patients found with false positive results after affected swabs used on them, Hospital Authority says


Two patients found with false positive results after affected swabs used on them, Hospital Authority says.


Hong Kong investigates suspected Covid-19 contamination of swabs in 5 hospitals

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Two patients found with false positive results after affected swabs used on them, Hospital Authority says

Two patients found with false positive results after affected swabs used on them, Hospital Authority says