Canada is rejecting 1 million face masks purchased from China for health care workers because they did not meet filtration standards, government officials said.

The KN95 respirators — which Canadian officials consider to be a viable alternative to the N95 mask — won’t be distributed to front-line health care workers across Canada after being found to be less protective than N95 models, the Globe and Mail reports.

“To date, [Public Health Agency of Canada] has identified approximately one million KN95 masks as non-compliant with specifications for health care settings,” spokesman Eric Morrissette said. “These items were not distributed to provinces and territories for front-line health care response, and are subsequently being assessed for use in non-health care settings.”

Due to “intense global competition” for personal protective equipment, Canada has had to resort to buying vital medical equipment from new manufacturers. Shipments of purchased and donated supplies are then tested upon receipt, Morrissette said.

It’s unclear whether Canada will seek a refund for the masks, the Globe and Mail reported.

The country imports about 70 percent of its personal protective equipment from China. The remainder hails from the United States, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, a senior Canadian source told Politico this week.

News of the defective masks comes just days after two cargo planes sent by Canada to China to pick up medical equipment were forced to return home without any gear due to traffic jams at an airport in Shanghai, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. Chinese officials later disputed that account, the Globe and Mail reported.

City officials in Toronto also announced earlier this month that they were recalling more than 60,000 substandard surgical masks made in China. An investigation by Toronto officials as to whether health care workers were exposed to the coronavirus while wearing the masks — which reportedly tore during use — is ongoing, according to the Globe and Mail reports.