That means at best, COVID-19 patients were found to have a one in five chance of getting a negative test result during their infection even if they were actually positive. "The focus should really be on ruling in positive patients rather than ruling out patients on the basis of the negative tests." "It's clear with COVID when you get a negative test, it could be a false negative, and that's because the test is not 100 per cent sensitive." The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) says a false negative rate of 20% is in line with their expected performance of coronavirus tests. "If someone has a negative test, they don't call them, and nothing really is happening," she said.

Source: CBC News June 13, 2020 07:52 UTC