"Positive for COVID-19" False Alarm Text Sparks Uproar Among Yangpyeong Residents

Sent text message to 1 person who tested positive and to 265 others

Not directly related to the article content. Yonhap News Agency (left) / Provided by reader (right)

[Asia Economy Reporter Na Ye-eun] The Yangpyeong County Public Health Center in Gyeonggi Province mistakenly sent positive test result texts to hundreds of Yangpyeong residents who had tested negative in the COVID-19 diagnostic PCR tests.

According to the Yangpyeong County Public Health Center on the 17th, at around 8:47 a.m. that day, the health center sent incorrect text messages stating "You have tested positive" and "We will contact you later for epidemiological investigation" to 265 individuals who had tested negative in the COVID-19 PCR tests. The message intended for one person who tested positive was mistakenly sent to 265 people who tested negative.

After confirming the erroneous text message dispatch, the Yangpyeong County Public Health Center sent a correction message at around 9:02 a.m., 15 minutes later, stating that the positive result message was sent by mistake, and about 20 minutes later, sent an additional apology message.

However, confusion persisted for some time as those alarmed by the positive test notification called the health center to verify and requested reconfirmation.

A representative of the Yangpyeong County Public Health Center stated, "It was confirmed that the incident occurred because an employee mistakenly checked the content in the system used to send text messages," and added, "We sincerely apologize to the many testees who were alarmed by this incident."