{"id":212314,"date":"2021-12-24T09:55:53","date_gmt":"2021-12-24T07:55:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/rapid-antigen-testing-price-lowered-following-competition-commission-investigation\/"},"modified":"2021-12-24T09:55:53","modified_gmt":"2021-12-24T07:55:53","slug":"rapid-antigen-testing-price-lowered-following-competition-commission-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/rapid-antigen-testing-price-lowered-following-competition-commission-investigation\/","title":{"rendered":"Rapid Antigen Testing price lowered following Competition Commission investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sanews.gov.za\/sites\/default\/files\/2012\/images\/newsstorytemplate\/202112\/antigentest.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p>South Africa\u2019s big three pathology groups, Pathcare, Lancet and Ampath, are expected to lower the price of COVID-19 Rapid Antigen tests to no more than R150 per test.<\/p>\n<p>This after a Competition Commission investigation found that the three groups may have contravened the Competition Act, which prohibits dominant companies from charging excessive prices to the detriment of consumers.<\/p>\n<p>The commission\u2019s investigation was triggered by a complaint from the National Health Department, which alleged that a test kit bought through UNICEF costs only R50 &#8211; implying that the three companies may have been overpricing.<\/p>\n<p>The companies were charging at least R350, with prices dropping to R250 during November.<\/p>\n<p>Commissioner Tembinkosi Bonakele said the move is a further victory for consumers if taken in the context of last week\u2019s announcement that COVID-19 PCR tests will now cost no more than R500.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is yet another major victory for South Africans, particularly the vulnerable groups during the time of a devastating and resilient pandemic. The reduction of COVID-19 Rapid Antigen test prices will help alleviate the plight of consumers, and widen accessibility and affordability of COVID-19 Rapid Antigen testing, which is a critical part of the initiatives to avoid the escalation of the pandemic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Rapid Antigen Tests give quicker COVID-19 results than Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests.<\/p>\n<p>Bonakele said the commission is also investigating the cost of Rapid Antigen Testing at retail pharmacy chain Dis-Chem.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Commission will continue with its investigation on supply and delivery of COVID-19 Rapid Antigen tests. We will not hesitate to apply for maximum administrative penalties against companies found guilty of exploiting consumers and customers,\u201d he said. \u2013&nbsp;<strong>SAnews.gov.za<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Africa\u2019s big three pathology groups, Pathcare, Lancet and Ampath, are expected to lower the price of COVID-19 Rapid Antigen tests to no more than R150 per test. This after a Competition Commission investigation found that the three groups may have contravened the Competition Act, which prohibits dominant companies from charging excessive prices to the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":212315,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[38678],"class_list":{"0":"post-212314","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-south-africa","8":"tag-sanews","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/rapid-antigen-testing-price-lowered-following-competition-commission-investigation.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}