© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A sign is pictured as people queue outside a test centre, following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Southend-on-sea, Britain September 17, 2020. REUTERS/John Sibley
By Kanishka Singh
(Reuters) – Britain’s competition watchdog said on Thursday it will help the government take action against COVID-19 testing companies if it finds they are breaching consumer law, amid concerns about the price and reliability of PCR travel tests.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid wrote to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Aug. 6 asking it to investigate the market for PCR tests to ensure that consumers did not face unnecessarily high costs or other poor provision.
The watchdog said in a statement it was exploring if individual PCR providers may be breaching their obligations under consumer law, and if there were structural problems in the market for PCR tests that could affect price or reliability.
It would also examine if there was any immediate action that the government could take in the meantime.
“We are also working closely with DHSC (Health Department) to get the data we need to identify the cause of any wider problems in the PCR testing market, and to ground our advice on what action may be needed,” George Lusty, CMA Senior Director for Consumer Protection, said.
The United Kingdom operates a “traffic light” system for international travel, with low-risk countries rated green for quarantine-free travel, medium risk countries rated amber, and red countries requiring arrivals to spend 10 days in isolation in a hotel.
The cost of a laboratory analysed PCR COVID-19 test ranges from 20 pounds to nearly 600 pounds ($28 to nearly $830) depending on the provider, according to the Financial Times newspaper.
People coming to England from green and amber-list destinations must take at least one such test to avoid fines of up to 2,000 pounds.
Britain has double vaccinated a higher proportion of its population against COVID-19 than most other countries, but a maze of rules has prevented travel to many countries, devastating the travel industry.
($1 = 0.7243 pounds)
Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.
Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.
