Medical experts are becoming increasingly concerned about the growing number of false negatives from 'invasive' coronavirus tests.
Thousands of Brits are receiving swab tests every day as part of the government’s “test, track and trace” programme.
Authorities have so far struggled to meet a goal of over 100,000 tests a day to help control the spread of the deadly virus.
It is now feared that thousands of patients have been incorrectly given the all-clear because up to a third of negative tests give the wrong result.
The lack of accuracy could be blamed on people gagging or 'squirming' while their throat and nose are swabbed during the 'notoriously difficult' procedure, doctors say.
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Some reports suggest that the 'false negative' rate may be between 10-30% therefore risking further spread of the disease.
Lawrence Young, professor of molecular oncology at Warwick University, told the Times: “I’m not aware of any UK data on the false negative rate, but this is estimated to be between 10% and 30% — with most of us thinking it is more likely to be near the top end.”
Britain has registered 240,161 people infected by Covid-19 but some believe the true figure could be much higher.
The Government has not yet commented on what it believes the failure rate to be.
Around 2.5million tests have been carried across the UK so far, according to the Department of Health.
Doctors say some patients are presenting at clinics with clear symptoms of coronavirus, but erroneous tests are giving the patient the all-clear.
Nick Summerton, a GP in East Yorkshire who is also a coronavirus specialist for the NHS said he is concerned about the false test results
He told the Times: “On most days I come across a person who has ‘barn door’ Covid-19 symptoms but a negative result,” he said.
“They often know as well as I do that this must be a false negative, but the post-test guidance is pretty useless in helping them with this.”
Earlier today, Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said the Government has now recruited 17,000 contact tracers for its coronavirus test, track and trace programme.
Mr Gove told Sky News's Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme that they were on course to achieve their target of getting 18,000 next week.
"It is now the case that more than 17,000 people have been recruited for contact tracing, so we are on course to meet that target," he said.
He said the test, track and trace programme - seen as key to further lifting of the lockdown - would be up and running by the end of May.
