Test kits for the novel coronavirus are being delayed in Britain after discovering that some of the kits being imported into the country were contaminated with the virus.

According to The Telegraph, traces of COVID-19 were detected on some parts of the kits, which were being imported from a firm in Luxembourg. The discovery will further delay the country’s attempts to ramp up their testing.

Britain is facing criticism for its lack of testing. The country’s testing capacity has been lower than that in the United States and South Korea.

It is not clear how the kits became contaminated nor how long the delay will be at this point, but British officials said that new kits should be released soon.

The United Kingdom has had 22,141 confirmed cases of the virus and 1,808 deaths so far. In contrast, as of Monday, the United States had 140,904 cases with 2,405 deaths.

The U.S. faced its own contaminated kit scare in early March. As Axios reported at the time, an Atlanta lab came under investigation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) after a scientist warned that he feared there was contamination in a lab where kits were being manufactured.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Stephen Hahn noted how the two government agencies had worked hard to resolve the issue.

“We worked hand in hand with CDC to resolve the issues with manufacturing. FDA has confidence in the design and current manufacturing of the test that already have and are continuing to be distributed. These tests have passed extensive quality control procedures and will provide the high-level of diagnostic accuracy we need during this coronavirus outbreak,” he said at the time.

The government promised to be open about the issues with the test kits and manufacturing was moved out of the Atlanta facility.

“HHS/CDC have been transparent with the American people regarding the issue with the manufacturing of the diagnostic and will be transparent with the findings of this investigation,” a representative said.

The U.S. has also been criticized for lacking test kits, a situation that officials are still struggling to remedy. The lack of testing has prompted some people to question why some wealthy and famous people are able to get tests even when they lack symptoms, while some symptomatic people have been rejected for testing.

Cardi B recently made a statement about the situation, as The Inquisitr previously reported, saying that testing seems to be different based on people’s economic standing.