The Hospital Authority today apologised for not sending five deep throat saliva specimens to the laboratory for COVID-19 testing.

It said Wang Tau Hom Jockey Club General Out-patient Clinic collected five deep throat saliva specimen samples on January 7, which were scheduled to be sent to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital laboratory for testing together with those collected from Hong Kong Buddhist Hospital.

Clinic staff found that the five specimen samples were still in the collection box when it was returned to the clinic the next day.

As all the specimens were no longer suitable for testing, clinic staff contacted the people affected to explain the incident, offer apologies and arrange the return of deep throat saliva specimen samples to the clinic as soon as possible. They have returned the samples this morning and all test results were negative for COVID-19.

The authority said it is highly concerned about the incident and immediately reminded staff to be vigilant and pay more attention to the items transferred.

The workflow of handling specimens will also be reviewed, it added.