Several investigations have been launched in Germany against structures offering rapid Covid-19 tests, suspected of inflating the number of screenings carried out to obtain undeserved reimbursements from the part of the state.

The public prosecutor's office in Bochum (north-west) raided premises and private accommodation linked to a company offering such antigenic tests, according to a spokesperson quoted by the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung.

The public prosecutor's office in Lübeck (north) has also opened an investigation for “fraud” linked to “carrying out and invoicing rapid tests”, according to the weekly

WirtschaftsWoche

 ;

and the Cologne health authority visited a center on Friday for an unannounced check-up.

For a hundred screenings carried out, one center declared 422 

These tests have been free for several weeks for residents under a federal regulation aimed at increasing the number of screenings.

This provides for a reimbursement of up to 18 euros per test, but several German media have pointed out in recent days without and the impossibility of checks.

The centers do not have to provide either the names of the people tested or other documents, such as invoices for the purchase of utensils.

"It is enough that they transmit the number of tests, without any proof, and they receive the transfer of money shortly after", according to a joint investigation of the public televisions NDR and WDR, with the daily newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, which launched the case.

To detect irregularities, the journalists counted people to be tested in several places in order to compare them with the figures transmitted to the authorities.

The result: for a hundred screenings carried out, one center declared 422;

Instead of 550, the company said it had made 1,743 in a day.

"Each Kebab stand can obtain a certificate"

Since the opening of free tests to the entire population, such easy-to-open screening points have multiplied in Germany: in North Rhine-Westphalia, the largest region, the Ministry of Health has identified more than 8,000 .

In Berlin, where there are at least 1,200, "each Kebab stand can obtain a certificate" to offer tests, even the newspaper Tagesspiegel the manager of several centers in the capital, on condition of anonymity.

In reaction to the revelations, the city of Münster (northwest) withdrew the concession to a company

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