Jerusalem, Apr 20 (IANS): Israel's Ministry of Health has announced the shutting down of a coronavirus testing laboratory because of 19 wrong diagnoses.

The lab, located at the Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS) in central Israel, began operating on April 10, Xinhua news agency.

On April 17, Assuta Hospital in southern Israel said that nine patients, who were admitted to the COVID-19 ward after being tested positive in the WIS lab, were actually healthy.

Similar cases were found in two other hospitals in Israel.

WIS said then that the Ministry rechecked the lab tests results before referring the subjects to the hospital.

The institute also blamed the Ministry for "evading responsibility".

Following the incident, the Ministry conducted an inquiry, which found that 19 healthy people were misdiagnosed with COVID-19 at the WIS lab.

According to the current Ministry's statement, the lab can be reopened only after repairs were made according to its demands.

Israel has reported 13,491 coronavirus cases, with 172 deaths.