Due to two glitches, more than 10,000 Germans and residents of other nationalities were waiting for their overdue Corona test results on Friday. Two hundred and fifty of them will never receive their results.
In Bavaria, more than 10,000 travelers have not received their Corona test results within 48 hours, even though they were promised to them within this time frame. All of those affected were tested at airports located in Bavaria between last Saturday and Tuesday.
Computer Issue Causes Delay
According to the Health Ministry in Munich, the issue was caused by a computer problem at Ecolog, a private company that is involved in the data handling process and the Corona tests conducted at the airports in Munich, Nuremberg and Memmingen. All affected persons were supposed to receive their missing tests results on Friday. It is unclear whether this was actually the case.
Just three weeks ago, another major glitch in Bavaria had caused a lot of trouble for the federal state’s government, and for thousands of people who did not receive their Corona test results. Nine hundred infected persons were among them. Bavaria’s Health Minister Melanie Huml had offered her resignation twice after the scandal. First Minister Markus Söder rejected it.
Lab Samples Lost in Hamburg
Another issue was reported in Bavaria, namely a backlog at the laboratories involved in the Coronavirus tests for returning travelers in the district of Kitzingen. Since the local health authority reportedly reached its capacity limits as well, more issues might be popping up.
Some 800 kilometers (500 miles) further north, in Hamburg, 250 lab samples that belong to travelers who returned from high-risk countries were lost for good, due to an attribution mistake. All 250 persons affected by this major glitch are in quarantine, according to the local health authorities. They had been tested at the airport in Hamburg’s Fuhlsbüttel district. Now they will have to repeat their Corona tests.
Alarming Situation in France
In Germany, the total number of Corona infections just exceeded 250,000. Every day, around 1,500 new Coronavirus cases are being registered. Two months ago, there had been between between 200 and 500 new cases per day.
In other European countries, the situation seems to be far worse. In Spain, more than 4,500 new infections were counted within 24 hours. It is the highest number since Spain ended its Corona lockdown in May. In the meantime, things are even more alarming in France. The country just reported the highest number of new Corona infections it ever had within one day, namely 8,975 of them.
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