Japan apologizes for mistakenly reporting two positive cases as 'negative'... Flawed testing system

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] As the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) spreads in Japan, Japanese health authorities mistakenly notified two confirmed cases that they tested negative. This incident occurred amid the Japanese government's nationwide state of emergency declaration, highlighting repeated lapses in the health authorities' response.

According to NHK, Atsugi City in Kanagawa Prefecture announced that this incident happened due to a misinterpretation of COVID-19 test results at Atsugi Municipal Hospital. The hospital doctor received an interim report from a private testing agency on the 15th regarding a man in his 20s and a woman in her 60s, whose specimens had been collected on the 13th, and notified them that their results were negative.

To notify a negative result, both of the two items listed in the report must be marked as "not detected." However, the attending doctor failed to properly notice that one of the items was marked as "under retesting." Generally, to prevent mistakes, doctors and nurses verify the report together in pairs, but in this case, the doctor checked the report alone, leading to the error.

The hospital realized the man in his 20s and the woman in her 60s were positive only after receiving the final test report on the 16th and apologized to the individuals involved. The hospital stated, "We deeply apologize for causing anxiety among the citizens," and added, "We will thoroughly reinforce the inspection system to ensure that the same mistake never happens again." NHK reported that the two individuals who were mistakenly notified of negative results had mild symptoms and did not engage in activities that could spread the infection, such as going out, after receiving the negative notification.

This is not the first time Japanese health authorities have caused problems related to testing. On the 11th, Aichi Prefecture announced 28 confirmed COVID-19 cases, but later revised the count on the 12th, stating that 24 of those were negative after retesting. Among those who were mistakenly diagnosed as positive despite being negative, six were hospitalized. One man in his 80s stayed in the same hospital room for about two hours with a confirmed patient, was classified as a close contact, and underwent retesting.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.