29 July 2021

ACT false positive cases spark community concern

| Dominic Giannini
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COVID-19 drive-through testing site at Kambah. Photo: Dominic Giannini.

ACT Health has confirmed that 11 people in the Territory tested positive to COVID-19 yesterday, but urgent retesting of 10 of them have since returned negative results.

One person who was retested has travelled to NSW and is isolating while waiting for their result.

Rumours of positive cases began to swirl yesterday afternoon (28 July) and today, but ACT Health did not release information about the false positives until prompted by the media.

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Despite being asked to address the rumours, ACT Health maintained there were no positive cases and no exposure sites in the ACT, despite being aware of the false positives.

When asked if ACT Health should have released information to calm worried members of the public hearing rumours of exposure sites across Belconnen, the city and Tuggeranong, a spokesperson said the Health Directorate communicated information the public needed to know effectively.

“Throughout the pandemic, the ACT Government has worked to communicate quickly and effectively with the ACT community whenever there is anything Canberrans need to know,” the spokesperson said.

“Should there be a positive case in the ACT, we will provide information and advice to the community as quickly as possible.”

The positive results were returned by a private provider. ACT Health is investigating why the tests returned positive results.

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The people who spread rumours like this are a threat to public safety.

What on earth are we meant to believe? This is chaotic.

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