Fake coronavirus test kits seized at Los Angeles International Airport
03/14/2020 4:02 pm PDT
By Nouran Salahieh, KTLA
LOS ANGELES (KTLA) -- Officers seized counterfeit coronavirus test kits at Los Angeles International Airport Saturday, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
A package arrived at LAX from the United Kingdom and was labeled “Purified Water Vials,” according to a CBP news release.
Officers found six plastic bags containing vials filled with a white liquid and labeled “Corona Virus 2019nconv (COVID-19)” and “Virus1 Test Kit” inside.
CBP director of field operations in L.A. Carlos Martel said it was a “significant interception, at a time when the U.S. is in the midst of a National Emergency.”
Authorities did not provide information on where the vials were headed.
Testing for the novel coronavirus can only be conducted at verified laboratories across the United States and the kits would not be available for purchase online or at brick and mortar shops.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provide COVID-19 test kits to public health laboratories across the country and the FDA provides them to commercial labs, according to the CDC.
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