TEN county people had to be tested again for the South Africa variant of coronavirus because of a mix-up, a leaked document shows.

The 11 page document entitled ‘Operation Eagle Lessons’ appears to be a Worcestershire County Council internal analysis of the testing process for the strain which is believed to be more contagious than others.

The testing took place from February 6 to February 17 at Sixways Stadium, Worcester, and the White Hart Pub in Fernhill Heath.

On a page entitled ‘What didn’t go well’ there are 8 bullet points noting things that went wrong during the operation.

Ten positive tests were not sent for sequencing correctly and as a consequence the ten people had to be visited at their homes and tested again.

The document states difficulties in the line of communication between the county council and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) caused initial delays. It also mentions on the first day of testing there were long queues and the public had to be turned away. They put this failing down to multiple things including the Mobile Testing Unit (MTU) not being in a position to be deployed in time, MTU staff hadn’t been trained, nor was the right equipment on hand and booking had been made available based on an initial estimate of a MTU capacity of 480 per day, when in reality, this was closer to 250 per day.

A council spokesman said: “The testing last month of residents living in Fernhill Heath and in the surrounding area, in response to a small number of suspected cases of the South African variant of Covid-19, was a great success. Working closely with colleagues from Public Health England, the Department of Health and Social Care and with partners from across Worcestershire, more than 6300 tests were distributed. In less than 48 hours of first suspecting that there may have been a small number of cases in the county, mobile testing units and door to door deliveries were put into operation. More than 4000 residents were tested in the space of just 6 days.

“With our partners we have begun a review of our response which we hope will help to inform any similar future operations here in Worcestershire or elsewhere.

We understand the ‘Operation Eagle Lessons’ document will be sent to the DHSC to be used as a road map should there ever be a need to surge test for other Covid variants in Worcestershire again.

It has still not been revealed how many people tested positive for the South Africa variant.