Coronavirus: Health ministry plans to put a stop to profiteering on self-tests

The health ministry on Saturday said it was taking steps to set a price ceiling on single self-tests for coronavirus amid reports of profiteering.

A box with five Covid self-tests has been price capped at €6, however some sellers have found a way around this, claiming the boxes are out of stock and pricing individual self-tests at about €2 apiece.

Clarifying that there is no supply issue, health ministry spokesman Constantinos Athanasiou said this phenomenon has been going on for days.

In an effort to tackle profiteering, the spokesman said, the health ministry is taking steps to set a cap on the selling price of a single self-test.

He added that some are selling rapid tests instead of self-tests, which is also prohibited.

The ministry had previously made three free boxes of five self-tests available to vaccinated individuals but that ended when the price ceiling was set in February.