Error at UK Covid testing lab might have led to 23 deaths, say experts

Mistake at Immensa Health Clinic Ltd lab in Wolverhampton led to 39,000 tests wrongly labelled negative

At least 23 deaths might have been caused by a blunder at a privately run laboratory after thousands of positive Covid cases were reported as negative, public health experts have estimated.

The error, at the Immensa Health Clinic Ltd lab in Wolverhampton, led to about 39,000 PCR tests returning negative results between 2 September and 12 October 2021 when they should have been positive - mostly in the south-west of England.