Newsroom
Over two dozen staff at the Papandreou Air Base in Paphos tested negative for the coronavirus after officials said the employees had initially tested positive, highlighting ongoing debate over the reliability of rapid test results.
Local media said 75 persons stationed or working at the Andreas Papandreou Air Force Base in Paphos took rapid antigen tests on Friday, with 26 of them testing positive for the coronavirus and placed under quarantine.
But after four of the 26 persons underwent follow-up molecular diagnostic tests, it emerged that they were negative according to PCR test results.
But after four of them underwent follow-up molecular diagnostic tests, it emerged that they were negative according to PCR test results
While the Air Base remained under strict measures over the weekend, officials went ahead with testing all 26 persons through PCR, with everyone ending up testing negative.
It was not immediately clear whether more follow-up PCR tests were ordered for others who tested negative through rapid tests, but local media said a health alert at the Base had ended.
Media reports said the false positive results were attributed to a “lab error” during the analysis of the original samples.
Earlier this month, questions were raised over the reliability of rapid tests, after a group of high school students were livid over false results.
A week later, Auditor General Odysseas Michaelides said a second PCR test had come back negative, after he was abruptly asked to leave a watchdog committee hearing following a rapid test he had taken at the entrance of the building which was described as a false positive.
