The UK Health Security Agency is considering legal action against Immensa, whose lab issued thousands of false negative COVID-19 test results, the Guardian reports.
Testing at Immensa's Wolverhampton lab was suspended in October following reports of people who had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 results by lateral flow testing but then had negative PCR test results, even with COVID-19 symptoms. At the time, the NHS Test and Trace program estimated that 43,000 people received an false negative PCR test result between Sept. 8 and Oct. 12, as GenomeWeb reported.
UKHSA is investigating the Immensa lab, the Guardian says. It adds that in a response to a freedom of information request from the Good Law Project, the agency denied the request for access to data about the audit and said the denial was due to "either or both legal advice and/or litigation privilege" but noted that does not mean legal action would be taken.
Jo Maugham, director of the Good Law Project, says, according to the Guardian, that the group would "welcome" legal actions against Immensa, but adds that the company's failures stem in part from UK governmental decisions to award funding to an unaccredited company.