UK bound COVID-19 testing kits contaminated with deadly Coronavirus

Coronavirus testing teams in Northern Ireland and in the rest of the UK have been told the delivery of the kits has been delayed because of the contamination.

News of the contamination was reported by the Telegraph on Monday.

The delay comes amid a scurry of criticism directed at the British government for how it has approached testing.

In a bid to speed up and improve testing in the government approached the private sector to purchase tests.

The company responsible for the kits found to have been contaminated with traces of the virus is based in Luxembourg and is called Eurofins.

The company sent a report to the UK authorities explaining the nature of the delay.

A spokesperson for Eurofins said: "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.