Chinese firm to replace ‘unreliable’ Covid-19 rapid test kits sent to Spain
- Shenzhen Bioeasy Biotechnology will ship new kits to make sure ‘patients get the best diagnostics’; manager dismisses reports as ‘untrue’
- It comes after Spanish research institute said it found nose swabs developed by the company had an accuracy rate of less than 30 per cent
In a statement addressed to Spain’s Ministry of Health on Friday, Shenzhen Bioeasy Biotechnology said it would send new kits to make sure “patients get the best diagnostics” and to “ensure the test kits’ sensitivity and specificity”.
“As it [is a] rapid test kit, following the protocol is very important,” the company added.
It came after the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, one of Spain’s leading research institutes, posted on its website that it had found nose swabs developed by the Chinese company had an accuracy rate of less than 30 per cent.
Spanish daily El País reported earlier that the country had ordered 340,000 test kits from the company, and that Madrid’s city government had decided to stop using the Bioeasy kits.
Spain’s health ministry said it had asked the national supplier to replace the test kits.