PHILIPPINES PROBING INTO FAKE TEST RING

Public told to inform cops if they come across those selling fake test results

PHILIPPINE police are investigating claims that false Covid-19 swab test results are being sold for 1,000 pesos. Online portal Inquirer.net reported that police chief General Guillermo Eleazar as saying: “We will not allow this.

“We will track down and arrest the persons behind this kind of scam.”

Eleazar also asked the public to inform the police if they were offered such services.

The police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the Anti-Cybercrime Group had been tasked with investigating the matter.

Accounts are circulating on social media of negative test results were being sold without a swabs being conducted.

Eleazar said those who bought fake Covid-19 test results would be arrested.

“We are asking for the public’s cooperation so that we can quickly arrest the culprits and shut down this activity, which is not only illegal but poses a danger to public health as it will set back our efforts in curbing the spread of Covid-19,” Eleazar said.

The Health Department, too, urged the public to report the scheme to the police if they were offered such services.

It said the public should provide a copy of the fake or tampered Covid-19 test result, the name and contact details of the laboratory or person who provided the fake result, and other information to the police.

Online portal Philstar.com reported that National Task Force against Covid-19 spokesman Restituto Padilla said the scam was a crime amid a public health emergency.

An employee of a laboratory allegedly offered negative swab test results without performing a nasopharyngeal swab, which is the method used to lift DNA samples to determine whether a person had been infected with Covid-19.

Padilla said a report on the laboratory had been submitted to the Health Department, with several other agencies conducting investigations into the matter.