India has cancelled orders for about half a million coronavirus rapid testing kits from China after it found they were “faulty”.
The kits, which were imported from two Chinese companies, were already in use in several states in India. They are supposed to detect antibodies in the blood of people who may have had the infection in about 30 minutes.
However, various Indian states began complaining that the kits had an accuracy rate of only 5%, adding that they had used the kits on patients who they already knew were positive, but the tests had shown a “negative” result for antibodies.
China rejected the claims: “The quality of medical products exported from China is prioritised. It is unfair and irresponsible for certain individuals to label Chinese products as ‘faulty’ and look at issues with pre-emptive prejudice”, Chinese embassy spokesperson Ji Rong said in a statement on Tuesday.
Additionally, the Delhi high court on Monday capped the price of the tests and suggested that the government had overpaid.
This is not the first case in which a country orders faulty coronavirus test kits from China. Last month, Spain bought 640,000 rapid testing kits from China and returned the order, after the Spanish association of microbiologists warned that the kits performed with an accuracy level of under 30%.
