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The top public health official for the Region of Peel is apologizing after 16 people were mistakenly issued negative coronavirus test results despite testing positive for COVID-19.

In a statement Thursday night, interim medical officer of health Lawrence Loh said he learned the letters were accidentally mailed earlier in the week.

“I know the relief those residents felt for a few moments has sadly been transformed into feelings of fear and uncertainty,” he wrote.

“On investigation, we found that several positive test slips were mixed with a batch of negative results received from labs. This error was not noticed until after the notification letters were mailed.”

Loh said staff are working to notify the affected residents to “make sure they have what they need to manage this difficult situation.”

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“We have made changes to our process to ensure that this situation does not occur again in the future,” he said.

“On behalf of the Region of Peel, I extend apologies to those residents impacted by this error.”

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The news comes on the same day that Peel Public Health officials said a man in his 60s has died at Brampton Civic Hospital from COVID-19. They said the man got the virus from a “close household contact.”

As of Thursday morning, the Ontario government said there were 2,793 cases of COVID-19 in the province. In total, 53 Ontario residents have died and 831 cases have been deemed resolved.

Peel Medical Officer of Health extends apologies for COVID-19 test result error. https://t.co/UnS4PvuUnN — Region of Peel (@regionofpeel) April 3, 2020

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