Thousands of Amazon workers given wrong Covid test results

Employees received notification to self-isolate despite testing negative for Covid-19

An Amazon associate collecting packaging at the Dunfermline fulfilment centre, Fife (PA)

Nearly 4,000 Amazon employees were sent incorrect coronavirus test results after a “system error” with the NHS Test and Trace app.

The government confirmed that 3,853 notifications telling workers they had tested positive for Covid-19 and needed to self-isolate were wrongly issued on 13 February.

Employees had been told by Amazon the day before that they tested negative for the virus, only to be sent a message saying the opposite by contact tracers.

Amazon has been testing their employees privately since October and sharing the results with Public Health England, who then sends them notifications with NHS Test and Trace and equivalent bodies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Those who received the inaccurate notification were “rapidly” informed they did not need to self-isolate, said the Department for Health and Social Care. According to the BBC, employees received a follow-up message from contact tracers confirming a “system error” had occurred.

A call handler working for a private company on behalf of test and trace told the BBC that thousands of Amazon workers called the 119 helpline out of confusion and that the error had affected “the families and households” of staff who received the notification.

They said: “Partners and children of Amazon staff who were added as contacts, told bosses they had to isolate and have lost income.”

A spokesperson for Amazon said: “We’ve communicated with our associates and partners to support them with the appropriate action steps, as instructed by the NHS.”

DHSC said the NHS Test and Trace has the capacity to process over 700,000 tests per day, and that the “vast majority” of people have not reported issues with the process.

“On Saturday, some Amazon staff members who tested negative for Covid-19 received notifications from NHS Test and Trace to say they have tested positive and asking them to self-isolate.

“Working closely with Amazon, NHS test and trace rapidly notified affected employees to let them know they did not need to isolate.”