Mozambique probes fake Covid-free certificates

By Jose Tembe

The health authority overseeing Mozambique's capital, Maputo, has said an investigation will be opened following reports of an ongoing trade in documents certifying a negative result for Covid-19. 

Mozambique and neighbouring South Africa require travellers to present a Covid-19 free certificate from a test taken 72 hours before travel. 

The tests, however, are mostly done in private hospitals, and cost between $41 (£30) and $97, which many consider to be very expensive.

The Maputo Provincial Health Director, Daniel Chemane, said on Tuesday that the authorities will try to find out who was behind the fake Covid-19-free certificates which are being sold for $7 on the black market.

Mozambican traders cross the border into South Africa frequently to buy stock for their businesses and want the government to come up with a Covid-19 testing system that they can afford.

This article originally appeared on BBC News

Photo: Chatham House