The swab at the airport? Reused several times on different passengers

Yet another international scandal on the subject of Coronavirus was discovered this time in Indonesia. Several employees of a pharmaceutical company were arrested on charges of washing and reselling used Covid nasal swab kits.

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The scam took place In Medan's Kualanamu airport., in northern Sumatra. According to police, it had been ongoing since last December and may have involved up to 9,000 passengers. Because of this, the state-owned company Kimia Farma is likely to face a lawsuit initiated by the passengers involved themselves.

The scam against Medan passengers

The test with Covid nasal swab has become routine in many countries affected by the global pandemic. Passengers are required to take a negative test if they wish to fly, and the airport offers on-site swabbing. Airport authorities had been using rapid antigen test kits provided by Kimia Farma. Following passengers' complaints of receiving false-positive test results, last week's police sent an undercover officer To pretend to be a passenger.

When he was patted down and received a positive test result, other officers swooped in, breaking in. He was thus found A used and recycled test kit for further examination. Last week, five Kimia Farma employees, including the company's Medan manager, were arrested. The suspects are accused of breaking health and consumer laws by washing nasal swab sticks and repackaging them for sale. Local media said authorities have received testimony from 23 people and are investigating the possible profit made. It is estimated that the company earned 1.8 billion rupees (about 20.3 million euros), a sum used to finance the construction of a lavish home for one of the suspects.

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Kimia Farma fired the staff involved and promised to strengthen internal controls. Meanwhile, two lawyers, who frequently flew through Kualanamu Airport, announced they would sue Kimia Farma in a class action lawsuit. The intent is to obtain 1 billion rupees (11,289,854 euros) for each passenger involved in the scam.

Earlier this week, Indonesian authorities said they had identified two cases of the newly observed Covid variant for the first time in India. Last month, Jakarta stopped issuing visas for foreigners who had been in India in the previous 14 days. The Muslim-majority nation also banned domestic travel at the end of Ramadan. This period prompts numerous people to travel to visit their relatives. Indonesia witnessed one of the worst Covid outbreaks in Asia and overall recorded about 1.7 million positive cases and more than 46,000 pandemic-related deaths.

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