The European Center for Disease Control and Prevention has received false test results from the Slovak Public Health Authority (ECDC). As a result, the country stayed in a high-risk zone for an extended period of time.
When adding up the data on the number of cases and the degree of positive covid cases, an issue developed. The PCR and antigen tests were both positive, according to the Chief Hygienist of PCR. However, they merely used the total number of PCR tests performed to calculate the degree of positive results where the antigen was left out. As a result, the number of positive covid cases appeared to be more than it actually was. Slovakia, like Czechia and Austria, could already be in the orange zone for the last two weeks which means looser rules for travel.
Slovaks, for example, must go through quarantine when they arrive in the Czech Republic since Slovakia is still considered a high-risk country. The ECDC rates countries based on two factors: the number of positive cases per 100,000 people in the previous two weeks and the proportion of positive test results.
Slovakia counted not only positive PCR tests, but also positive antigen testing as positive instances, and estimated the incidence by dividing the total number of these tests by the number of PCR tests performed.
“It was a failure of the human factor, for which we apologize,” admitted the office’s spokeswoman Daša Račková.