Hundreds of people may be told every week that they test positive for corona even though they are not infected at all. One sixth to one third of the people who get a positive result may get it incorrectly, according to information from the RIVM where NRC writes about.
The high number of wrong test results is due to the fact that many people who have no symptoms still get tested. The number of false positive tests then increases. It is a known problem that plays a role in all medical tests, says Leiden professor of biostatistics Jelle Goeman the newspaper.
The margin of error could be narrowed by testing only when people actually have symptoms. The question now remains about the figures about the number of corona infections. It is therefore possible that considerably fewer people have been infected than the official figures show.
25,000 tests per day
“25,000 tests per day are done by the GGDs”, says VVD Member of Parliament Thierry Aartsen in Goedemorgen Nederland on NPO 1. “It is also all new, we did not have this ready in a script. Those people are working around to arrange all this. ”
“It is annoying if you have received an incorrect test result,” says Aartsen. “We are busy arranging everything properly and mistakes are also made. We should acknowledge that right away and see how we can do it better. It is good that RIVM is now finding out for itself. Now you know where the problem is and you can get started. ”
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By: Tom Janssen
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