Beautiful Virgin Islands

Friday, Aug 29, 2025

Covid: Secret filming exposes contamination risk at test results lab

Covid: Secret filming exposes contamination risk at test results lab

Secret filming at one of the biggest UK Covid testing labs has found evidence of potential contamination, discarded tests and pressure to hit targets.
A BBC reporter working as a lab technician, filmed staff cutting corners and processing samples in a way that could cause contamination.

This means some people who had taken a test via NHS Test and Trace may have received no result or a wrong result.

The lab said it had followed all necessary rules and regulations.

Evidence at the lab captured on film shows:

* Checks to ensure samples could be identified, were rushed, meaning tests were sometimes discarded unnecessarily


* Some test samples "glooped" across an area where other samples had been placed, risking contamination


* Swabs used by people to take Covid tests were left in their tubes when processed, presenting a further contamination risk


* A quality control scientist telling the reporter that the quality of the results progressively got worse throughout the day

The findings have led experts to question the way the lab was operating.



One expert described a scene from the undercover footage where a technician wipes up a sample with a tissue as "crazy".

"[T]here is almost zero question," said Chris Denning, director of the University of Nottingham Biodiscovery Institute, that this "would lead to contamination".

Another expert, who used to run a company doing millions of PCR tests, said "You cannot run a service like this."

"[T]here are ways of making things faster," said Phil Robinson, "and it's not by doing things at lower quality."


Missed checks
The government has spent more than £1bn building a network of laboratories to process tests as part of NHS Test and Trace.

The lab in Milton Keynes is run by not-for-profit company UK Biocentre and is one of seven so-called Lighthouse laboratories brought on stream by Number 10.

Allegations of poor working practices at the lab were first highlighted by the BBC in October 2020..

UK Biocentre at the time said it was "already addressing observations". But months after, sources told the BBC's Panorama programme about continued poor practice.

BBC Reporter worked 18 shifts undercover in January and February to investigate.

She joined one of four teams of technicians preparing and processing PCR test samples.

BBC Reporter worked undercover as a lab technician in the testing facility The Milton Keynes lab handles test-and-trace samples from members of the public.

It can process 70,000 coronavirus tests per day, but while Wakefield was there it was usually between 18,000 and 40,000.

Despite being in the midst of the second wave of coronavirus, the lab technicians the reporter worked with sat idle for significant periods of their shifts

But technicians worked to targets regardless of the number of sample arriving in any 24-hour period.

At the sorting stage where tubes containing people's Covid test samples were removed from bags, checks to ensure they are traceable were sometimes rushed.

This is the start of the testing process.

Each sample should arrive with a barcode on both the bag and the sample tube inside, meaning that if the tube itself is missing a barcode, the one on the bag can be used.

But the Panorama film shows a sample tube without a barcode, being discarded due to the bag having already been thrown away.

It meant the person who had taken the test would then have to take another.

The reporter spoke to colleagues on each of her shifts who told her this happened regularly.

The lab told Panorama it is essential people get results quickly, and to ensure staff can work to the laboratory's standard capacity.


Liquid handling robots
Wakefield also filmed a number of practices at the lab which experts said could cause contamination, raising questions over the reliability of test results being sent out.

After they are sorted, samples are sent to liquid handling robots at the heart of the mass testing process.



The robot's pipettes automatically dip into eight tubes at a time, suck up a small portion from each and then deposit these on a testing plate, where they are later analysed for the presence of the virus that causes Covid-19.

To save time, swabs used by people to take their tests, were left inside their tubes, rather than being removed by hand first, when processed. On occasion, these swabs were caught by the robot's pipettes, lifted out and, sometimes, fell across other samples, potentially contaminating them.



Our undercover filming shows a swab from a test tube picked up by the liquid handling robot, presenting a contamination riskThe laboratory said if contamination is suspected the run must be
stopped, the system cleaned down and a new run started from scratch.

However,
while some technicians did pause the machine, Wakefield filmed others
pushing the swabs back into their tubes with a gloved hand. Experts said
this too could cause contamination.
A technician pushes a swab back into its sample tube, potentially causing contamination
Watching the evidence, Prof
Denning said: "If a solution has got a full infection… of millions of
particles and you start bouncing this around, naturally, little droplets
are going to spray off in all different directions."

Some
samples are much thicker than others because of mucus, and these also
present a contamination risk because of the way they are sometimes
handled in the Milton Keynes lab.

Wakefield saw these thicker
samples regularly hanging off robot pipette tips and dripping across
other samples when being transferred to the testing plate.

Wakefield
filmed technicians continuing to process the plates, with one
attempting to salvage a plate by simply wiping it with a tissue.

"What
you're seeing here is absolutely crazy," said Prof Denning. "There is
almost zero question that this would lead to contamination."A technician cleaning a potentially contaminated testing plate with a tissueThe lab said there may have been isolated mistakes by "individual staff", but this should be seen in the context of a facility that has gone from zero to testing 11 million people in a matter of months.
'Industry best practice'
After tests are completed, results are checked by the lab's biomedical scientists who are responsible for quality control.

The reporter spoke at length to three of the scientists, and while she was told by one that management wanted to improve quality at the lab, two told her they see hundreds of samples on testing plates they think are contaminated.

One frustrated scientist told her that the quality of the results were often better at the start of each shift, saying things got progressively worse and that by the last hour of the day, "half of the plate is garbage".

UK Biocentre said its "test positive rate" closely tracks the UK's average, providing reassurance its results are robust and trustworthy.

It said Panorama's findings are "an incomplete and selective" representation of its efforts, and it had been "operating under a unique period of pressure" because of to the second wave of the pandemic.

It has contributed significantly to the pandemic response, it said, operates "in line with industry best practice", and has been recommended for accreditation by the regulator.

The government said it demands the highest standards, takes "concerns extremely seriously" and "will be fully investigating all the allegations that have been made".




A technician pushes a swab back into its sample tube, causing potential contamination
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
A new faith called Robotheism claims artificial intelligence isn’t just smart but actually God itself
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner Purchases Third Property Amid Housing Tax Reforms Debate
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Italian Facebook Group Sharing Intimate Images Without Consent Shut Down Amid Police Investigation
Dutch Foreign Minister Resigns Amid Deadlock Over Israel Sanctions
Trump and Allies Send Messages of Support to Ukraine on Independence Day Amid Ongoing Conflict
China Reels as Telegram Chat Group Shares Hidden-Camera Footage of Women and Children
Sam Nicoresti becomes first transgender comedian to win Edinburgh Comedy Award
Builders uncover historic human remains in Lancashire house renovation
Australia Wants to Tax Your Empty Bedrooms
MotoGP Cameraman Narrowly Avoids Pedro Acosta Crash at Hungarian Grand Prix
FBI Investigates John Bolton Over Classified Documents in High-Profile Raids
Report reveals OpenAI pitched national ChatGPT Plus subscription to UK ministers
Labour set to freeze income tax thresholds in long-term 'stealth' tax raid
Coca‑Cola explores sale of Costa coffee chain
Trial hears dog walker was chased and fatally stabbed by trio
Restaurateur resigns from government hospitality council over tax criticism
Spanish City funfair shut after serious ride injury
Suspected arson at Ilford restaurant leaves three in critical condition
Tottenham beat Manchester City to go top of Premier League
Bank holiday heatwave to hit 30°C before remnants of Hurricane Erin arrive
UK to deploy immigration advisers to West Africa to block fake visas
×