@RedToothBrush there is currently a EU-wide shortage of medical swabs, which means testing may be more difficult in the coming weeks.
Struggling to find who manufactures these swabs in Europe, BUT I did stumble across the company COPAN who makes swabs and guess where they are located? Brescia, Italy. They've been making a huge amount. And there's some kind of dispute going on.
www.copangroup.com/news-events/item/51-comunicato-stampa
We read with amazement and deep regret the article just published by Repubblica signed by the deputy director, Gianluca di Feo, entitled: "Coronavirus, half a million swabs from a company from Brescia to the United States". We believe it is right to point out the following, to protect the good name of Copan, of our employees and fellow citizens.
Copan Italia is a Brescia-based company, and is the world's leading manufacturer of collection and storage systems for microbiology. For years we have served the whole world with our devices and, in this phase of the global pandemic, we have been working tirelessly to supply the famous "swabs", in Italy and wherever they are needed. It should be clarified that the swab is only the sample collection device; other companies in the world are involved in producing and marketing the diagnostic tests to which the swabs are subjected in the laboratory. In recent weeks we have delivered over 1 million tampons to Italian hospitals; since the beginning of the epidemic, to date, March 19, 2020, about 200,000 tests have been carried out in Italy. It is evident that in Italy tampons are not in short supply, so much so that they are not subject to any export restrictions, unlike other articles for medical use.
Copan has been exporting to the United States for decades through distributors, which serve both the public and private sectors. Due to the scarcity of air cargo and the worsening of the Coronavirus crisis, the US government recently organized an airlift with a military cargo to urgently transport our swabs. Other shipments have been planned in the same way, also because the quantity sent is certainly not "impressive" compared to the population and above all to the number of tests that can be carried out weekly in the North American laboratories. There was no muted operation, the goods were regularly cleared through customs and sold at market prices, Copan did not sell to any government. And, above all, no tampons have been removed from Brescia, Lombardy, Italians or Europeans. La Repubblica's article contains a series of inaccuracies and allusions and is seriously damaging Copan's image: just take a look at the reactions of indignation provoked by him on social media a few hours after publication.
It also appears to us that the content has already been taken up by other press and media outlets, to further aggravate its impact. To have answers to the many questions raised, it would have been enough to consult us. The contradictory would also have made it possible to understand how far the dark portrait that emerges from reading the article is far from the ethics that distinguishes our group of people who, with enormous sacrifices, is making its contribution to the correct diagnosis of Covid-19 , everywhere in the world. Copan reserves the right to act in the competent judicial offices to protect its image.
Stefania Triva Chief Executive Officer
Copan Italia S.p.A.
I also found an article about the American company who make medical swabs - Puritan. Fascinating!
www.bloomberg.com/features/2020-coronavirus-puritan-medical-test-swab/
The coronavirus test uses a swab made with short fibers called “flock” (think: tiny polyester cilia, like nose hairs) that get placed on the end of a plastic applicator—wood can interfere with test results—creating a soft tip that will eventually (and gently, one hopes) get shoved up a patient’s nose.