Hundreds of thousands of Chinese-made N95 protective masks distributed to hospitals treating the COVID-19 Chinese coronavirus in the Netherlands have proven to be unreliable and are being recalled, according to a report.
The report by Dutch news site NOS is here. The story is in Dutch, but it has been translated here by Google Translate.
A large part of the mouth masks that the Dutch government has imported from China is unsound. Because the masks were already distributed to hospitals, the Ministry of Health has launched a recall.
The story says it is about 600,000 units.
The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport’s response:
In a written response to the NIS, the ministry states that efforts are being made to meet the need for protective equipment that is scarce all over the world. “Due to these shortages, we can find ourselves in a situation where only protective equipment is available that does not meet the highest standards. This is an issue in all countries. The Ministry of VWS and the national consortium work day and night to get the best masks. ”
“Last Saturday, a first shipment from a Chinese manufacturer was partly delivered. These are masks with a KN95 quality certificate. The Ministry of VWS received a first signal that the quality of this shipment did not meet the criteria during inspection. Part of this shipment was delivered to healthcare providers, the rest of the cargo was immediately put on-hold and was not distributed further. ”
“A second test also showed that the masks did not meet the quality standard. It has now been decided not to use this whole shipment anymore. New shipments will undergo an additional test.”
The ministry, known by its Dutch acronym VWS, says that as of Sunday, the nation has 10,866 COVID-19 cases, including 1,104 new cases and 132 deaths. A total of 3,483 have been hospitalized.
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Jason M. Reynolds has more than 20 years’ experience as a journalist at outlets of all sizes.
