Wessex FM – News – Coronavirus: Randox Laboratories test kits recalled ‘for not meeting safety standards’

More than 740,000 coronavirus test kits have been recalled over safety fears.

The swab kits, created by Northern Irish firm Randox Laboratories, did not meet the required safety standards, the government said.

On 15 July, the government told all labs to pause their use of coronavirus test kits produced by the company “with immediate effect until further notice”.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said there had been a problem with the swabs, but there was no suggestion that test results were affected.

“The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has instructed Randox to recall all Randox test kits from NHS Test and Trace testing settings,” the ministry of health said in a statement on Friday.

The ministry said the decision had been taken as a “precautionary” measure. The risk to safety was low and test results from Randox kits were not affected, it added.

Up to 741,000 unused kits are estimated to be in the system, either at warehouses, care homes or private homes.

The ministry has issued advice about how to return them.

For people at home, it said: “A return postage paid envelope is included in the Randox COVID-19 Home Testing kit.

“Therefore, the kit should be opened and the contents repackaged in the return envelope and the return postage label affixed.

“The label will direct the kit to the Royal Mail Collection Centre in Northern Ireland. Randox will take receipt of these deliveries.”

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Randox, which claims to be responsible for up to 17% of the total number of tests carried out in the UK, said the recall was a “regulatory measure” that applied only to sample collection kits within the NHS programme.

Private customers or kits were not affected, it said.