The Netherlands recalled hundreds of thousands of face masks imported from China after they were found defective, the Ministry of Health said.
On March 21, the Dutch authorities received 1.3 million face masks from China, some of which were distributed to health care providers fighting the spread of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.
The Ministry of Health then received "an indication that the quality of the delivery during the inspection did not meet the required standards," said a statement sent to Euronews.
"A second test confirmed that the face masks did not meet the required quality standards, so it was decided to stop using the entire delivery."
The masks were KN95 certified, which means that they filter over 95% of the particles. According to the state broadcaster NOS, the recall affects 600,000 masks.
face mask disposable has assured that "new deliveries will be subject to additional standard checks".
The Netherlands has recorded 10,930 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus and 772 deaths, according to statistics from John Hopkins University.
Turkey and Spain have problems with rapid tests It is not the only country that has imported defective medical protective clothing from China to fight the disease.
Spain announced on Thursday that it would return 640,000 rapid tests that it had bought from a Chinese company after it was found that the tests were only 30% reliable.
The government stressed that the kits were CE certified - indicating conformity with European standards - and that they were purchased through a Spanish middleman.
However, the Chinese embassy in Madrid said on Twitter that Shenzen Bioeasy Biotechnology, the manufacturer of the kits, had not received an official license to sell medical devices from the country's authorities.
Spain is the second most affected country in Europe by the corona virus. Italy had over 73,000 confirmed cases and 5,900 reported COVID-19 deaths as of Saturday.
The Turkish health minister announced during a press conference on Friday that samples of rapid tests received from a Chinese company did not meet efficacy standards and that another, also Chinese, company had been selected to deliver the tests instead.
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