Coronavirus testing kits that are due to arrive in the UK have been contaminated with the novel disease.
The news comes after Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who has now been infected with the disease said 3.5 million antibody tests have been ordered to enable health officials to carry out 11,000 tests a day.
According to the Daily Telegraph, it has been discovered that key components ordered from Eurofins, a company based in Luxembourg, had been contaminated with COVID-19.
The report claims that Eurofins has warned laboratories in the UK that delivery of parts referred to as ‘probes and primers’ had been contaminated.
The fo said that the issue can be resolved by ‘proper cleaning’ but admitted the discovery would result in a delay.
A spokesperson for Eurofins told the Telegraph: ‘In rare occasions, delays in some orders may occur if based on Eurofins Genomics stringent quality and environmental control procedures, manufacturing of a product may not meet the quality or purity criteria set by Eurofins Genomics.
‘We are aware that contaminations of the nature you mentioned have been observed by several primers and probes manufacturers around the world after they produced SARS-COV2 positive controls.
‘Those initial problems can be easily resolved by proper cleaning and production segregation procedures.’