Chinese Authorities Distance Themselves from ‘Unreliable’ Coronavirus Test Exported to Spain

What’s new: Chinese authorities have distanced themselves from a coronavirus diagnostic kit produced by Shenzhen Yirui Technology Co. Ltd, and used in Spain, after it emerged the test only correctly identified the virus about 30% of the time.

The Chinese Embassy in Spain said the company was not on a list of qualified suppliers China’s Ministry of Commerce had given to Spain.

The background: Spanish health authorities announced Sunday they had purchased 640,000 rapid tests from China. But the first 9,000 distributed were found to be unreliable by Spanish microbiologists, El País reported.

Spain said Thursday it had returned the tests to Chinese manufacturer Yirui Technology. The tests have not been approved for use in China.

A Covid-19 crisis has been unfolding in Spain with infections rising beyond 65,000 and the death toll passing 5,000 today. The country now has more than a fifth of the world’s recorded deaths from the disease.

Quick Takes are condensed versions of China-related stories for fast news you can use. To read the full Caixin article in Chinese, click here.

Contact reporter Flynn Murphy (flynnmurphy@caixin.com)