The United States President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency in the country as almost 4,727 people have been infected with the novel Coronavirus there, while it has claimed the lives of 93, so far.
Apart from various news about the US struggling to ramp up basic testing for COVID-19, getting the Coronavirus test done, especially for uninsured individuals, is a costly affair in the country. This has forced many people to order COVID-19 test kits online so that they can check the virus infection sitting at home.
However, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers have recently seized a package containing suspected counterfeit test kits at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on March 12, 2020.
Many small bottles were found in six plastic bags labelled as "Purified Water Vials" with a declared value of $196.81. However, after a detailed examination, it was understood that the vials contain a white liquid labelled "Corona Virus 2019nconv (COVID-19)" and "Virus1 Test Kit". The counterfeit test kits have arrived from the United Kingdom and have been sent to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for analysis.
Following this, the CBP came forward asking the residents in the US to conduct the Coronavirus test only at verified state and local public health laboratories in the country. They have also requested the public to be aware of these bogus home testing kits that are available online.
"ICYMI: CBP officers seized suspected counterfeit COVID-19 test kits. At-home COVID-19 test kits found online are fake. Authorized testing for COVID-19 is conducted in verified state & local public health labs across the US," CBP tweeted on March 15.
Dead birds seized
In February 2020, the CBP officials had revealed that a Chinese passenger had tried to sneak into the US with a bag full of dead birds. The incident came to the light at the Dulles airport near Washington. Though the transparent package had pictures of a cat and dog claimed to be pet food, on close examination, it was found to be some unknown small dried birds about 2.5 to 3.5 inches in length.
