Health Authorities in Canada say they have rejected one million face masks from China for failing to meet standards.
Canadian authorities bought one million KN95 face masks from China but the masks failed to meet COVID-19 standards and were therefore useless to front line health workers battling the pandemic.
The KN95 masks ordered by Canada is the Chinese variant of the N95 face masks regularly used by health workers around the world.
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The mask is a crucial element in the personal protective equipment worn by doctors and nurses to protect themselves while treating coronavirus patients.
Spokesperson for the Public Health Agencies of Canada, Eric Morrissette, said the masks could not be distributed to provinces and territories because of the low standard of production.
In recent times Canada has imported 70 percent of its PPE used in combating the coronavirus from China while the rest have come from the UK, Switzerland and the US.
According to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, two planes sent to pick up medical equipment from China were forced to return empty. He said however that efforts were being made to boost local production of medical equipment needed to fight the pandemic.