diff --git a/pkg/services/ngalert/state/manager_test.go b/pkg/services/ngalert/state/manager_test.go
index b8b9238e23c..6051a4e7540 100644
--- a/pkg/services/ngalert/state/manager_test.go
+++ b/pkg/services/ngalert/state/manager_test.go
@@ -1655,6 +1655,103 @@ func TestProcessEvalResults(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			desc: "normal -> alerting -> error when result is Error and ExecErrorState is Error",
+			alertRule: &models.AlertRule{
+				OrgID:           1,
+				Title:           "test_title",
+				UID:             "test_alert_rule_uid_2",
+				NamespaceUID:    "test_namespace_uid",
+				Annotations:     map[string]string{"annotation": "test"},
+				Labels:          map[string]string{"label": "test"},
+				IntervalSeconds: 10,
+				For:             20 * time.Second,
+				ExecErrState:    models.ErrorErrState,
+			},
+			evalResults: []eval.Results{
+				{
+					eval.Result{
+						Instance:           data.Labels{"instance_label": "test"},
+						State:              eval.Alerting,
+						EvaluatedAt:        evaluationTime,
+						EvaluationDuration: evaluationDuration,
+					},
+				},
+				{
+					eval.Result{
+						Instance:           data.Labels{"instance_label": "test"},
+						State:              eval.Alerting,
+						EvaluatedAt:        evaluationTime.Add(10 * time.Second),
+						EvaluationDuration: evaluationDuration,
+					},
+				},
+				{
+					eval.Result{
+						Instance:           data.Labels{"instance_label": "test"},
+						State:              eval.Alerting,
+						EvaluatedAt:        evaluationTime.Add(20 * time.Second),
+						EvaluationDuration: evaluationDuration,
+					},
+				},
+				{
+					eval.Result{
+						Instance:           data.Labels{"instance_label": "test"},
+						State:              eval.Error,
+						EvaluatedAt:        evaluationTime.Add(30 * time.Second),
+						EvaluationDuration: evaluationDuration,
+					},
+				},
+				{
+					eval.Result{
+						Instance:           data.Labels{"instance_label": "test"},
+						State:              eval.Error,
+						EvaluatedAt:        evaluationTime.Add(40 * time.Second),
+						EvaluationDuration: evaluationDuration,
+					},
+				},
+				{
+					eval.Result{
+						Instance:           data.Labels{"instance_label": "test"},
+						State:              eval.Error,
+						EvaluatedAt:        evaluationTime.Add(50 * time.Second),
+						EvaluationDuration: evaluationDuration,
+					},
+				},
+			},
+			expectedAnnotations: 3,
+			expectedStates: map[string]*state.State{
+				`[["__alert_rule_namespace_uid__","test_namespace_uid"],["__alert_rule_uid__","test_alert_rule_uid_2"],["alertname","test_title"],["instance_label","test"],["label","test"]]`: {
+					AlertRuleUID: "test_alert_rule_uid_2",
+					OrgID:        1,
+					CacheId:      `[["__alert_rule_namespace_uid__","test_namespace_uid"],["__alert_rule_uid__","test_alert_rule_uid_2"],["alertname","test_title"],["instance_label","test"],["label","test"]]`,
+					Labels: data.Labels{
+						"__alert_rule_namespace_uid__": "test_namespace_uid",
+						"__alert_rule_uid__":           "test_alert_rule_uid_2",
+						"alertname":                    "test_title",
+						"label":                        "test",
+						"instance_label":               "test",
+					},
+					State: eval.Error,
+					Results: []state.Evaluation{
+						{
+							EvaluationTime:  evaluationTime.Add(40 * time.Second),
+							EvaluationState: eval.Error,
+							Values:          make(map[string]*float64),
+						},
+						{
+							EvaluationTime:  evaluationTime.Add(50 * time.Second),
+							EvaluationState: eval.Error,
+							Values:          make(map[string]*float64),
+						},
+					},
+					StartsAt:           evaluationTime.Add(20 * time.Second),
+					EndsAt:             evaluationTime.Add(50 * time.Second).Add(state.ResendDelay * 3),
+					LastEvaluationTime: evaluationTime.Add(50 * time.Second),
+					EvaluationDuration: evaluationDuration,
+					Annotations:        map[string]string{"annotation": "test"},
+				},
+			},
+		},
 		{
 			desc: "normal -> alerting -> error -> alerting - it should clear the error",
 			alertRule: &models.AlertRule{
diff --git a/pkg/services/ngalert/state/state.go b/pkg/services/ngalert/state/state.go
index 7aa8c20a66a..d8bf35c1fc7 100644
--- a/pkg/services/ngalert/state/state.go
+++ b/pkg/services/ngalert/state/state.go
@@ -122,6 +122,12 @@ func (a *State) resultError(alertRule *models.AlertRule, result eval.Result) {
 
 	switch a.State {
 	case eval.Alerting, eval.Error:
+		// We must set the state here as the state can change both from Alerting
+		// to Error and from Error to Alerting. This can happen when the datasource
+		// is unavailable or queries against the datasource returns errors, and is
+		// then resolved as soon as the datasource is available and queries return
+		// without error
+		a.State = execErrState
 		a.setEndsAt(alertRule, result)
 	case eval.Pending:
 		if result.EvaluatedAt.Sub(a.StartsAt) >= alertRule.For {