A number of ‘bogus’ Covid-19 products are being sold on unauthorised websites, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has warned the public.

The MHRA said on Friday that it had disabled nine domain names and social media accounts selling fake or unauthorised Covid-19 products.

These include fake testing kits, ‘antiviral misting sprays’, unlicensed medicines and products touted as miracle cures for the virus.

No medicines are licensed to treat or prevent Covid-19 and no self-testing kits have been approved for home use, said the watchdog, advising people to only purchase medicines and medical devices from registered pharmacies.

The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau has also heard from people who lost money when trying to purchase PPE or testing kits from websites that turned out to be fake businesses.  

MHRA enforcement official Lynda Scammell told the public: “There is no medicine licensed specifically to treat or prevent Covid-19, therefore any claiming to do so are not authorised and have not undergone regulatory approvals required for sale on the UK market. We cannot guarantee the safety or quality of the product and this poses a risk to your health.

“The risk of buying medicines and medical devices from unregulated websites are that you just don’t know what you will receive and could be putting your health at risk.

The MHRA is working with the National Crime Agency to understand the scale of the threat posed by the sale of counterfeit Covid-19 products.