US government officials warned Nevada not to use Chinese Covid-19 tests

Name: US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump test positive for Covid-19
Uploaded: 2020-10-15T09:37:03.000Z
Duration: 2 min 13 s
Description: US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump test positive for Covid-19

Homeland security department, citing state department guidance, signalled concerns over test kits offered to Nevada’s state task force, which declined them

United Arab Emirates had offered to donate US$20 million of kits, although Chinese firm BGI Group, which made them, denies knowledge of it

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US officials have suggested BGI Group’s equipment could be a means of spying by the Chinese government. Photo: AFP

Associated Press

Published: 5:37pm, 15 Oct 2020Updated: 5:36pm, 15 Oct 2020

US diplomats and security officials privately warned the state of Nevada not to use Chinese-made coronavirus test kits donated by the United Arab Emirates over concerns about patient privacy, test accuracy and Chinese government involvement, documents show.

The documents illustrate how the US government actively – if quietly – tried to keep the state out of a project involving the Chinese firm BGI Group, which is the world’s largest genetic sequencing company and has expanded its reach during the coronavirus pandemic.

US intelligence agencies have warned that foreign powers like China could exploit samples to discover the medical history, illnesses or genetic traits of test takers, although they have not offered any public evidence. Internal emails and documents obtained from the Nevada governor’s office show US authorities expressing such concerns specifically about BGI.

“I hope the Nevada Covid-19 task force leadership is aware of this so they can make an educated decision and know some of the US government’s concerns,” William Puff, a Department of Homeland Security regional attaché at the US embassy in Abu Dhabi, wrote in an email forwarded to Nevada officials.

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US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump test positive for Covid-19

The warnings from Puff’s department and the state department led the office of Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak in April to direct a Nevada hospital not to use any of the donated 250,000 test kits as officials turned down an offered laboratory deal.