No defective kits sent to Bangladesh

The Chinese embassy yesterday confirmed that none of the 40,500 coronavirus test kits donated to Bangladesh is from Shenzhen Bioeasy Biotechnology -- the company questioned by the Spanish government on Thursday for supplying "faulty" kits.

A Chinese embassy statement said: "The test kits provided by China to Bangladesh does not include any product, component or element from Shenzhen Bioeasy Biotechnology Co Ltd. All the medical supplies from China were purchased through standard procedures and from qualified suppliers."

The Spanish government has withdrawn thousands of coronavirus testing kits supplied by Shenzhen Bioeasy after it was revealed that those had a 30 percent detection accuracy rate, according to media reports.

The Chinese government and Jack Ma, one of the richest men in Asia and founder of Alibaba Foundation, has so far donated 40,500 test kits for Covid-19 to Bangladesh.

The Chinese embassy, in the statement, said it observed news reports saying that test kits bought by Spain from China failed to work properly, which raised some concerns among the people of Bangladesh.

"Shenzhen Bioeasy Biotechnology Co, Ltd, the Chinese company in question, has not been granted a seller's permit by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) of China, nor has it been listed as a qualified supplier of medical equipment by the Ministry of Commerce of China," read the statement.

China will always stand by the friendly people of Bangladesh and will continue to offer necessary assistance within their scope of capacity in the fight against Covid-19, it added.

The statement also suggested that all the test kits require specific conditions of storage and the testing process should be conducted by professionals following strictly the instructions and user manuals provided by manufacturers.

"The Chinese government and manufacturers will not be responsible for any problem resulted from the mishandling or malpractice in the use of the test kits," said the statement.