Australian state sees record cases, lab sends false results

SYDNEY (AP) — Australia’s most populous state has reported a record number of new COVID-19 cases and a sharp jump in hospitalizations while thousands of people were isolating at home after contracting the virus or coming into contact with someone who has. A major laboratory in Sydney, which is located in New South Wales, says 400 people who had been informed a day earlier they had tested negative for COVID-19 had in fact tested positive. The lab’s medical director says those people were being contacted and informed of the error. Doctors and pharmacists in New South Wales have said they are running short of vaccine doses amid a rush for shots spurred by concern over the omicron variant. The state reported 6,394 new infections.