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Amazon starts selling low-cost PCR travel tests

Emma Lunn
Written By:
Emma Lunn
Posted:
Updated:
14/12/2021

The £34.99 tests will be suitable for travellers to use as day 2 and day 8 tests after arriving in the UK.

The move looks to shake up the PCR testing market after complaints that dodgy companies were advertising misleading prices on the government ‘approved’ list of providers.

Amazon will sell single PCR tests for £34.99 but also discounted bundles, with the deals appearing on the government’s approved list of suppliers in the next couple of days.

The tests will be processed at Amazon’s lab in Salford, which the retailer set up last year to process tests for employees. Amazon said customers would get their test results via a secure Amazon website within 24 hours of their sample reaching the company’s lab.

Amazon is already on the official list of Covid test providers. It started selling testing kits in the UK earlier this month, but these couldn’t be used by anyone taking a test before or after travelling.

The government reintroduced mandatory PCR tests on arrival in the UK at the end of November in a bid to slow the spread of the Omicron variant.

Last week testing trade body the Laboratory and Testing Industry Organisation (LTIO) supported calls from consumer groups to crackdown on misleading providers who continue to operate unchecked on the Government website.

Earlier this month testing provider Randox was forced to review its policies after a probe by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

Travellers are currently reporting week-long waits to get their PCR results back, partly due to the Royal Mail struggling to cope because of large numbers of staff off sick with Covid or being obliged to self-isolate.

Neena Bhati, Which? head of campaigns, said: “Which? research has repeatedly exposed providers making misleading claims, charging rip-off prices and in some cases not even returning test results to customers, so Amazon’s entry into the market could offer some benefits to travellers such as access to quicker deliveries, which will be crucial over the Christmas holidays.

“For months Which? has been asking the government to take steps to properly regulate the market and implement the CMA’s recommendations, including ensuring that safe, reliable and affordable tests are available for all travellers so that they can have confidence they are booking with a provider they can rely on.”


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