This archive report was first published on 16 July 2020.
Published on July 16, 2020, a COVID-19 test result controversy has been brewing in Kenya, with Lancet Laboratory in Mombasa at the center of the storm.
Seventeen teaching staff members of St Andrew's School Turi tested positive for COVID-19 at Lancet, only to test negative three days later after a second opinion at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI).
This was not the first time Lancet's test results had been questioned. In early July 2020, several Kenyans claimed that the laboratory's SARS-CoV-2 test results were not credible.
Two women, for instance, received conflicting results from Lancet and Nairobi Hospital, with Lancet showing they had COVID-19 while Nairobi Hospital indicated they were negative.
Following these allegations, Lancet Laboratory underwent an audit, inspection, and investigation by various government agencies, including the National COVID-19 Command Centre, the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council, and the Departmental Committee on Health at the National Assembly.
Lancet's Group Managing Director, Dr. Ahmed Kalebi, explained the discrepancies in the test results, attributing them to false-negative results from other laboratories rather than false-positive results from Lancet.
Dr. Kalebi emphasized the importance of not ignoring positive test results, citing cases where individuals had ignored positive results from Lancet, only to end up in the ICU or die.
He also highlighted the high clinical sensitivity and specificity of Lancet's PCR test for SARS-COV-2, which uses the Seegene Allplex assay, a test that has been independently evaluated and found to have 100% clinical sensitivity and 100% clinical specificity.
