Sajid Javid could face legal action after 43,000 given false negative Covid results
Most of the 43,000 affected are in the South West
Last updated 2nd Nov 2021
SAJID Javid could face legal action over the ‘catastrophic consequences’ of the false-negative Covid test result scandal.
On Monday, November 1 the Good Law Project launched legal proceedings against the Secretary of State Sajid Javid over the Immensa testing scandal which saw 43,000 people – mostly in the south west – given false negative Covid results.
On October 15 the Department of Health and Social Care put out a press release announcing that it was suspending test processing at the privately run lab, Immensa.
Good Law Project has asked Javid to immediately terminate all Immensa contracts, compensate those impacted and to take action to regulate testing firms.
If this does not happen, Good Law Project will sue.
As previously reported, the Covid rates in the south west have soared higher than anywhere else in the country.
Director of public health for Wiltshire, Kate Blackburn explained how the rise in new cases seen over the past two weeks was down to these false-negative tests.
“Undoubtedly the issue with the laboratory with false PCR negative tests – predominantly affecting the south west – meant that people who were potentially infectious went back into the community and seeded the infection,” she said.
“I think that’s why we’ve seen such a big jump in the south west.”
Jo Maugham, director of Good Law Project said: “We don’t know why government chose to sidestep established testing facilities in universities and hospitals to send £119m to a newly formed private company. But the consequences have been catastrophic.
“Many people are likely to have lost their lives. We want answers for their families and the tens of thousands of others whose lives have been blighted by the Government’s inexplicable disregard for public health.”
According to the Good Law Project, Immensa is still being allowed to process PCR tests at its Loughborough lab.
It has also been revealed that the company has never been fully accredited to carry out tests, despite the government insisting that it was.
A DHSC spokesperson said: “The Immensa laboratory in Wolverhampton passed an independent quality audit overseen by NHS Test and Trace and is in the process of UKAS accreditation.”
The department added that it had advised the lab to stop private travel testing at the start of its investigation and has been assured that Immensa is not carrying out any private or international testing at the Wolverhampton lab.