the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness is reporting that according to open source reporting, Chinese efforts to shift blame for the COVID-19 pandemic and gain favorable influence from countries impacted by the disease include manufacturers selling substandard medical equipment. While Chinese authorities have stated they contained the disease in their country, they are also engaged in a public relations campaign to bolster their image by claiming China is the only government providing equipment to vulnerable countries such as the Netherlands, Spain, and Turkey.
On March 28, the Dutch health ministry recalled over 600,000 N95 face masks, known as FFP2 in Europe, that arrived from a Chinese manufacturer. Officials ordered hospitals to return the substandard masks after discovering the equipment failed to securely fit on the faces of doctors and nurses and had faulty filters unable to prevent coronavirus particles from passing through the masks.
On March 17, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a phone conversation with the Spanish prime minister that China would provide support and assistance to Spain. On March 26, Spanish health authorities reported that they would be returning 58,000 Chinese-made testing kits after discovering they had an accurate detection rate of only 30 percent.
In addition to Turkey and the country of Georgia receiving faulty testing kits, the Czech Republic received 150,000 portable kits on March 18 that were 80 percent ineffective. The country’s Health Ministry paid $546,000 for 100,000 kits, while the Interior Ministry paid for the other 50,000.
NJOHSP strongly urges the public to use legitimate and credible organizations for accurate information, as well as to fact check claims from competing sources. Rumors can easily circulate within communities during a crisis, and the spread of disinformation can be stopped by choosing trusted sources of information. For more information, please visit https://www.njohsp.gov/covid19.