BEIJING/MADRID (Reuters) - China’s Shenzhen Bioeasy Biotechnology Co Ltd said on Friday it will replace some coronavirus test kits it exported to Spain after the Spanish government deemed them too inaccurate to be used to diagnose patients.

Spain’s Ministry of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Welfare said in a statement that test kits supplied by Shenzhen Bioeasy were defective and had failed to correctly diagnose people when tested at hospitals.

Shenzhen Bioeasy said in a statement that the incorrect results may be a result of a failure to collect samples or use the kits correctly. The firm said it had not adequately communicated with clients how to use the kits.

The Spanish ministry said it will withdraw the kits that returned incorrect results, and would replace them with a different testing kit provided by Shenzhen Bioeasy.

The virus outbreak has killed more than 4,000 patients in Spain as of Thursday, surpassing the death toll in China, and infected more than 50,000 people.