Coronavirus: India cancels order of 500,000 kits after 'fault complaints' in Chinese kits

Coronavirus: India cancels order of 500,000 kits after 'fault complaints' in Chinese kits

India has canceled a deal to buy around 500,000 such krona virus testing kits imported from China after it was found to have 'defects'.

New Delhi has also recalled imported kits which were in use in various states.

With these kits, test results can be obtained in 30 minutes and these kits determine the 'antibodies' in the blood of a person infected with the virus. These kits can be used to estimate the severity of an epidemic in any area.

China has denied India's claim that Chinese kits have defects.

Chinese embassy spokesman Ji Rong said in a statement on Tuesday that "the quality of medical equipment exported from China is given high priority and it is unfair and irresponsible to call Chinese products defective."

"This case shows a mental bias," he added.

These kits, which are tested in a very short time, do not actually test for the corona virus, and many experts have expressed concerns about this method of diagnosis.

Many Indian state governments were pressuring the Indian Medical Research Council (IMRC) to allow them to use the kits because of concerns that corona virus tests in India were too low. are going to.

The Indian Medical Research Council was initially reluctant to do so, but later allowed the kits to be imported from two Chinese companies.

But soon complaints began to be received from many states that these kits were defective and that only five per cent of the tests were correct. Tests were also performed on people who already knew they had corona virus and tested negative.

The results were no different when the ICMR also tested these kits to assess their quality.

The matter was further complicated on Monday when the Delhi High Court fixed the test fee and said the government had paid a higher price.

Officials have told local media that canceling the purchase of these kits will not cost the government a single rupee as the government had not made any advance payment and the entire deal has been canceled.