India has scrapped an order for half a million coronavirus testing kits from China after they were allegedly found to have just a five per cent accuracy rate.

Some of the 'faulty' kits were already in use in several states but have now been withdrawn by the country's government.

The rapid testing kits take around 30 minutes to return a result and are intended to detect antibodies in people who may have already had coronavirus.

They were reportedly produced by Chinese firms Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech and Zhuhai Livzon Diagnostics, according to Indian news outlet NDTV.

Wondfo Biotech is also the producer of an antibody test which was recently rejected by the British Government for not having a high enough accuracy rate.

Officials in a number of Indian states reported an accuracy rate of just 5.4 per cent for the tests and found they were returning negative results for people who they knew had had the virus.

It is unclear from reports which of the two tests was shown to have such a low accuracy rate.

India has scrapped an order for half a million coronavirus testing kits from China after they were found to have just a five per cent accuracy rate, according to reports

China has disputed India's claims about the quality of the tests.

Chinese embassy spokesman Ji Rong told the BBC on Tuesday: '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.'

However, the BBC said the kits had also failed checks done by the Indian Medical Research Council (ICMR).

The tests were imported after several Indian states pushed the ICMR to allow them because of concerns that not enough people were being tested.

The antibody testing kits were reportedly produced by Chinese firms Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech and Zhuhai Livzon Diagnostics, according to Indian news outlet NDTV. Pictured: The test made by Wondfo Biotech

Officials in a number of Indian states reported an accuracy rate of just 5.4 per cent and found the tests were returning negative results for people who they knew had had the virus. Pictured: File photo

Officials have since told local media that the government 'will not lose a single rupee' from cancelling the huge order because they had not paid in advance.

India has now reported 29,451 coronavirus cases, with 939 confirmed deaths.

On Monday, it emerged the British government had rejected a test produced by Wondfo Biotech.

It was found to have an 82 per cent accuracy rate at identifying people who have had the disease, according to scientists in the US.

They tested it independently and found it could correctly identify 81 out of 100 people who had had COVID-19 in the past, and would give fewer than one in 100 false positives among people who hadn't.

But for a test to be approved for use in the UK it must meet 98 per cent on both sensitivity and specificity tests, according to the Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

Firms around the world have been racing to produce antibody testing kits amid the coronavirus crisis but concerns have been raised about how accurate they are.

Earlier this month, a British professor told the UK Government that none of the antibody tests which he had so far seen were any good.

Professor Sir John Bell, from Oxford University, said the testing kits he had examined so far 'have not performed well' and 'none of them would meet the criteria for a good test'.

He said: 'We see many false negatives... and we also see false positives. This is not a good result for test suppliers or for us.'

It is unclear from reports which of the two tests was shown to have such a low accuracy rate. Pictured: A health worker checks the body temperature of the rider of a moped in India

The UK Government also paid an estimated £16million to two Chinese companies for two million antibody tests which officials then found were not accurate enough to be rolled out.

Officials pounced on an early offer of potential tests produced in China with the New York Times reporting officials agreed to pay approximately $20 million to secure the home testing kits.

However, when the antibody tests were put through their paces they were found not to be sufficiently accurate and as a result could not be used.

It comes after it emerged that Muslims in India are bearing the brunt of the country's coronavirus crisis, with the Hindu-nationalist government blaming an Islamic missionary for a surge in cases.

Politicians in the ruling Bharatiya Janata party were quoted by newspapers and TV accusing Muslims of 'corona terrorism' after the country's largest cluster of cases was identified at an Islamic compound in New Delhi.

The joint secretary for India's health ministry, Lav Aggarwal, repeatedly called out the congregation in daily news briefings.

There has also been a reported surge in violence, business boycotts and hate speech towards the minority in the world's second most populous country.