Chinese kits donated to Nepal stopped midway over quality concerns

















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KATHMANDU: Chinese kits for COVID-19 have been stopped midway after questioned raised over their quality.

A Chinese company, Savanta Biotechnology, on Wednesday had donated 2,000 sets of coronavirus testing kits to Nepal’s Embassy in Beijing.

“The kits have arrived at Lhasa, Tibet,” a high-ranking official involved in the supply of kits to Nepal said, “The Chinese government has stopped the delivery of the kits midway after finding out the kits don’t fall under a list of half a dozen kits approved by National Medical Products Administration.”

The Health Department in Tibet found the kits not to be exportable due to sub-standard quality.

Spain, which is the worst affected country after Italy, reportedly found out that rapid coronavirus test kits purchased from a Chinese firm could only identify 30% of the virus, according to a report in Spanish newspaper El País.

Microbiology experts in Spain, as per media reports, believe that such tests should have more than 80% sensitivity towards influenza, a yardstick stipulated by US Food and Drug Administration.

Similar concerns have been raised by other countries such as Georgia and the Czech Republic.

A Czech portal also reported that about 80% of Covid-19 rapid test kits sourced from China were found to be of inferior quality. The Czech government had airlifted them to meet the emergency situation in the country.