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Coronavirus UK
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Britain’s Covid-19 travel tests spawn US$520 million ‘Wild West’ free-for-all

  • Testing has burgeoned into a cottage industry in Britain, where the proliferation of questionable firms now poses a risk to the country
  • While some other European countries have capped the cost of tests for travel, the British government is relying on the free market

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A student performs a Covid-19 self-test last year in Newcastle, Britain. Photo: PA Wire/dpa
Bloomberg
Early in the coronavirus pandemic last year, London property developer Arnaud Touret bought a batch of 5,000 rapid Covid-19 tests from South Korea. He set up a laboratory to analyse the results, hired a chief medical officer and applied for UK accreditation for his new venture.

His company, Covid-19 Home Test UK Ltd., is now among more than 400 businesses listed on the government’s website offering PCR tests for travellers on their return. “There’s a gap that needs to be filled and the government is not filling the gap,” said Touret, 34. “We shouldn’t really exist.”

Testing has burgeoned into a cottage industry born out of Britain’s at times chaotic response to the coronavirus. But companies like Touret’s and health experts say the proliferation of more questionable firms now poses a risk to the country’s ability to contain the next stage of the pandemic as it opens up the economy and allows more travel without quarantine.
Anti-vaccination protesters gather outside the Houses of Parliament in central London earlier this month. Photo: AFP
Anti-vaccination protesters gather outside the Houses of Parliament in central London earlier this month. Photo: AFP

While some other European countries have capped the cost of tests for travel, the British government is relying on the free market. Private companies are providing a service the state requires travellers to use, but critics say regulation is far too lax.

“The government has just opened up a complete Wild West,” said Tony Cooke, CEO of Cambridge Clinical Laboratories, which offers Covid-19 testing. “They’ve set up a gate system where you have to do certain things to pass through the gate, but once you’re inside you can do what you want because nobody’s checking up on you.”

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