Unable to complete the swab tests done, the Singapore Ministry of Health blame its laboratories over a “calibration error earlier”:
“The lower number of cases today is partly due to fewer tests being processed as one testing laboratory is reviewing its processes following an earlier apparatus calibration issue, and will need time to ramp up its testing capacity.”
305 new cases were reported today, but the authorities did not declare the number of tests done. There is also no update on the 6,000 pre-school workers tests done on Saturday.
Last Thursday (May 14), the Ministry of Health found 33 wrong results produced from a laboratory. 33 individuals were wrongly diagnosed with the COVID-19 virus and posted to isolation facilities with the infected. There has been no update on the misdiagnosis which the authorities claimed is due to a “calibration error” at the lab. The health ministry did not say when will the issue be resolved.
The number of “community cases” has been low in recent weeks due to low testing as well. Health Minister Gan Kim Yong refused to give a breakdown or even reveal the number of tests done each day. The minister last week admitted there were “backlogs”, but did not declare how many were they.
Singapore has a total of 28,343 confirmed cases, with daily reporting the highest in Asia. The Singapore government is going against advice to reopen the economy when daily cases averages around 700 each day.