Daegu City Reports Third Occurrence of 'False Positive'... 4 Patients Discharged Immediately, 28 Released from Quarantine

Following Judgment Errors of 2 People in July Last Year and 7 People in January This Year, 'Gaps in Quarantine Management'

The photo shows the COVID-19 virus gene standard material developed by the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science. Using the gene count of this material as a reference is known to reduce false negative or false positive diagnostic errors.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Dong-wook] Four confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in Daegu, initially reported as positive, were ultimately confirmed negative. This is the third false positive case in Daegu where test results that should have been negative were mistakenly classified as positive.

On the 30th, Daegu City announced in a COVID-19 briefing that four additional 'false positive' cases were identified within the jurisdiction of Dalseo-gu Public Health Center. These cases occurred during the process of classifying five individuals as positive among those tested at the Dalseo-gu screening clinic on the 24th.

Following a joint on-site investigation by Daegu City and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on the 27th, it was determined that four of these individuals were false positives due to errors in specimen handling after collection, according to Daegu City.

The city immediately discharged the four individuals confirmed as false positives and also lifted the quarantine for 28 contacts who had been self-isolating. These 28 people experienced 1 to 2 days of quarantine due to the authorities' mistake.

A city official stated, "To prevent recurrence of false positive results, we will maintain continuous training systems for personnel working at screening clinics and enforce strict management. We sincerely apologize to the citizens for the confusion caused and to those who suffered damages."

Meanwhile, in Daegu, following two contacts of confirmed cases related to a tutoring academy on July 6 last year (both women in their 60s), seven citizens tested at Nam-gu Public Health Center in January this year were also notified as positive and hospitalized, only to receive negative results a few days later.

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