Home True: Some coronavirus test kits manufactured by the C.D.C may have been contaminated.

True: Some coronavirus test kits manufactured by the C.D.C may have been contaminated.

By: Lakshmi B

May 11 2020

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True: Some coronavirus test kits manufactured by the C.D.C may have been contaminated.

Fact-Check

The Verdict True

According to The Washington Post, testing kits manufactured at C.D.C labs in Atlanta were contaminated leading to faulty results.

According to The Washington Post, testing kits manufactured at C.D.C labs in Atlanta were contaminated leading to faulty results. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is America’s premier institution for combating the spread of catastrophic disease. According to the Washington Post, two of the three C.D.C. laboratories in Atlanta that assembled the coronavirus testing kits violated sound manufacturing practices, resulting in contamination of one of the three test components used in the highly sensitive detection process. C.D.C. officials took more than a month to remove it from the test kits, which created massive delays in testing for the virus across the U.S. The Washington Post also confirmed in a separate report that Food and Drug Administration officials concluded that the C.D.C. violated its laboratory standards in making the kits and the substandard practices exposed the kits to contamination. According to the New York Times, problems at C.D.C. labs ranged from researchers entering and exiting the coronavirus laboratories without changing their coats to test ingredients being assembled in the same room where researchers were working on positive coronavirus samples. Those practices made the tests sent to public health labs unusable because they were contaminated with the coronavirus and produced some inconclusive results. The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a lot of potentially dangerous misinformation. For reliable advice on COVID-19 including symptoms, prevention and available treatment, please refer to the World Health Organisation or your national healthcare authority.

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