Peel Public Heath has apologized after mistakenly telling residents that they did not have novel coronavirus (COVID-19), when they had tested positive.

According to a late Thursday, April 2 release from the region, Peel health mailed letters to 16 residents on March 31 and April 1 mistakenly advising them that their tests results were negative for the virus.

The release said "in fact, they (the residents) were positive" for COVID-19.

“I know the relief those residents felt for a few moments has sadly been transformed into feelings of fear and uncertainty,” said Dr. Lawrence Loh Peel’s interim medical officer of health in the release.

He said the region is “working quickly to notify these residents and make sure they have what they need to manage this difficult situation.”

The release said that several positive COVID-19 test slips mixed with a batch of negative results received from labs and the error was not noticed until after the letters were sent.

“We have made changes to our process to ensure that this situation does not occur again in the future,” Loh said. “On behalf of the Region of Peel, I extend apologies to those residents impacted by this error."

On April 2, there were 362 confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported by Peel Public Health, a jump of 53 from the previous day.

The release did not specify whether the 16 positive cases were included in the region’s COVID-19 totals.