Europol Warning: Illicit sale of false, negative COVID-19 Test Certificates

The US government is awarding almost $232 million to the company Ellume USA LLC to scale up production of its rapid at-home Covid-19 diagnostic test, officials said Monday.

"There's a chicken and egg problem that we have taken a step to solve today by creating mass production so that we will have tens of millions of these tests out there", said during a press conference.

The Food and Drug Administration gave emergency authorization to Ellume's rapid test in December, after it showed 96% accuracy in a USA clinical study.

On Monday, Andy Slavitt, a senior advisor to the White House on the COVID-19 response, said the Australia-based company Ellume, will be awarded $231 million to produce these kits.

A factory worker in MA undergoes a Covid test before work.

The single-use kit analyzes a sample collected by the user and delivers the results to a smartphone within 15 minutes.

They were charged with forgery, use of forgery and complicity in fraud after selling faked test certificates to travellers for between £130 and £260.

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Last year, Harry sued Associated Newspapers Ltd. for libel over two "almost identical" pieces published in October. Judge Matthew Nicklin heard details of the settlement at a remote hearing on Monday.

One airline - Emirates - has already started trialling a technological solution to counterfeit test results in five of its destination countries - the UAE, France, UK, Spain and the Netherlands.

This, they said, "allows members of the organised crime group to manually falsify test results".

Since authorizing two vaccines in December, the United States has distributed almost 50 million doses and administered over 31 million shots.

When asked how a third vaccine's authorisation could help speed up the government's goal of inoculating most Americans by the end of summer, Mr Slavitt said the authorisation of Johnson & Johnson's shot will not likely cause an immediate dramatic shift.

A new over-the-counter home Covid test that features 95% accuracy and a less invasive nasal swab will be available for consumers this month.

The US now has more than 26.2 million cases of Covid-19, according to Johns Hopkins University data.