Hundreds in Australia receive wrong COVID test results

A "clerical error" made at a lab in Sydney resulted in hundreds getting the wrong COVID results in the days leading up to Christmas, as cases surge in Australia.

SydPath, an Australian-based lab, sent hundreds of patients the wrong test results, due to a "data processing error," it said in a statement.

The lab announced in a statement Monday that a total of 995 people, who had taken COVID- tests on Dec. 22, Dec. 23 and Dec. 24 had received text messages that their test results were negative when the results had not yet been determined.

Of those 995 people, 486 people had actually tested positive.

This comes after the lab announced on Sunday it had told more than 400 people their results were negative when they were positive.