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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Daniel Boffey Chief reporter

Chinese firm got Covid contract despite trying to hack NHS data, minister says

Workers at a Covid testing lab in Beijing provided by BGI.
Workers at a Covid testing lab in Beijing provided by BGI. Photograph: Xinhua/Rex/Shutterstock

China’s leading genomics research company was given a Covid testing contract in the UK despite ministers knowing it had repeatedly sought to hack into the NHS’s genetic datacentre, a government minister has said.

The BGI Group was making multiple attempts every week to “hack” into Genomics England in 2014, George Freeman, a minister for science, innovation and technology, revealed to MPs, and is said to remain a “danger”.

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