Health Center Incorrectly Informs 60 Confirmed Cases as "Negative"... Admits "System Error" One Hour Later

Health Center States "Private Diagnostic Testing Site Error"

Citizens waiting in line in front of the screening clinic. The photo is unrelated to the specific part of the article.
Photo by Asia Economy

[Asia Economy Reporter Na Ye-eun] The Jeonbuk Iksan City Health Center mistakenly notified dozens of people who tested positive in the COVID-19 PCR test that they were 'negative.' The health center sent a correction message an hour and a half later.

According to Iksan City, the Iksan City Health Center sent a text message around 8:56 a.m. on the 24th to 60 people who had undergone COVID testing, stating, "The result of your polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test is negative."

Citizens who received the message believed their symptoms were caused by a cold and reportedly visited hospitals or freely interacted with family members and others.

However, about 1 hour and 40 minutes later, they received a correction message from the health center saying, "We apologize. Due to a system error, the negative message was sent incorrectly. We are correcting the message. You have tested positive for COVID-19 PCR."

Due to the health center's mistake, citizens who had tested positive were mistakenly sent negative result messages, preventing timely isolation measures.

Confirmed cases who had contact with family and acquaintances before their test results changed from negative to positive expressed frustration, saying, "How could the health center make such a mistake?" They also worried about additional infections among family and acquaintances.

A health center official explained, "When the private diagnostic testing lab entered the confirmed case information into the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency system, the test specimen sheet was marked as 'negative,' and the message was sent based on that notation."

They added, "Because the volume of COVID-19 tests is so high and the workload has increased, there seems to have been some confusion. If there are problematic movement paths during the epidemiological investigation, we will take appropriate measures."

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