Microbiology experts in Spain have said that rapid coronavirus tests that the country bought from China are not consistently detecting positive cases.
The error was discovered as Spain is in the grip of one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the world, second only to Italy in the number of reported deaths.
Studies on the tests done in Spain found that they had only 30% sensitivity, meaning they correctly identify people with the virus only 30% of the time, sources told the Spanish newspaper El PaÃs.
Those sources told the newspaper that the tests should have a sensitivity of more than 80%. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says rapid tests for influenza are required to have 80% sensitivity.
Rapid tests can get a result in minutes but are generally less accurate than other tests. Numerous companies around the world are producing them.
BREAKING: Man Intentionally Rams Vehicle Into Michigan Synagogue and Opens Fire
Watch: Scott Jennings Calls on Internet to Fact-Check His CNN Colleague’s Insane Claim About Pete Hegseth
Trump-backed affordable housing overhaul clears Senate, while House GOP raises red flags
Clyburn, 85, bucks Democrat generational revolt with bid for 18th term in Congress
New Bill to Ban Abortion Pill Hits Senate
House Democrats ask ICE for contracts on 2,500 marked vehicles overbought under Noem
Missing retired Air Force general consulted on UFOs for Blink-182’s Tom DeLonge
Piers Morgan Asks Former MSNBC Host Mehdi Hasan 7 Times if He’s Glad Khamenei’s Reign Is Over, Gets No Answer
US destroys aging Iranian warplanes, video shows
Powell’s behind-the-scenes move after Trump’s DOJ opened its criminal probe
Texas death row inmate uses final statement before execution to speak directly to victims’ family
CNN’s Ana Navarro Busted for Falsely Claiming NYC Bomber Was Targeting Mamdani Just Hours Before Abby Phillips Apologized for Making the Same Mistake
Op-Ed: Trump and Clinton’s Similarities are Glaring, Why Do Dems See Them So Differently?
GOP billionaire trying to woo Trump’s support in key Georgia race bankrolled his 2024 presidential rivals
Nancy Pelosi endorses former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn in second congressional bid
The studies prompted the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology to formally recommend not using these tests, El PaÃs reported. Health workers are now meant to use other tests that take longer to give a result.
Fernando Simón, the director of Spain’s health-emergencies coordination center, said on Thursday that Spain checked 9,000 of the tests, found that their results were not consistent enough, and decided to return them.
Spain’s health ministry confirmed the results of the studies into the tests to El PaÃs, with a spokesman saying the Carlos III Health Institute, a public-health institute that reports to the government, “detected a sensitivity that does not correspond to what is established in the technical sheet.”
The spokesman said that the institute had recalled a shipment of the tests sent to Madrid. New tests approved by the government will be rolled out instead, he said.
The tests were being used in the regions of Andalusia and Galicia, and they were first used in the Madrid region on Wednesday.
Delays from implementing the new test will further harm Spain’s efforts to contain the virus, which had killed more than 4,000 people in the country as of early Thursday.
The tests were made by a Chinese biotechnology company called Bioeasy, El PaÃs reported. Other countries, including Georgia, have bought the company’s tests.
BREAKING: Man Intentionally Rams Vehicle Into Michigan Synagogue and Opens Fire
Watch: Scott Jennings Calls on Internet to Fact-Check His CNN Colleague’s Insane Claim About Pete Hegseth
Trump-backed affordable housing overhaul clears Senate, while House GOP raises red flags
Clyburn, 85, bucks Democrat generational revolt with bid for 18th term in Congress
New Bill to Ban Abortion Pill Hits Senate
House Democrats ask ICE for contracts on 2,500 marked vehicles overbought under Noem
Missing retired Air Force general consulted on UFOs for Blink-182’s Tom DeLonge
Piers Morgan Asks Former MSNBC Host Mehdi Hasan 7 Times if He’s Glad Khamenei’s Reign Is Over, Gets No Answer
US destroys aging Iranian warplanes, video shows
Powell’s behind-the-scenes move after Trump’s DOJ opened its criminal probe
Texas death row inmate uses final statement before execution to speak directly to victims’ family
CNN’s Ana Navarro Busted for Falsely Claiming NYC Bomber Was Targeting Mamdani Just Hours Before Abby Phillips Apologized for Making the Same Mistake
Op-Ed: Trump and Clinton’s Similarities are Glaring, Why Do Dems See Them So Differently?
GOP billionaire trying to woo Trump’s support in key Georgia race bankrolled his 2024 presidential rivals
Nancy Pelosi endorses former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn in second congressional bid
The Chinese Embassy in Spain said on Twitter on Thursday that the medical supplies China was donating to other countries did not include Bioeasy products.
It said that the Chinese Ministry of Commerce gave Spain a list of manufacturers and that Bioeasy was not among them, adding that it had not been given a license from China’s National Medical Products Administration to sell its products.
On Monday, Spain said it received 640,000 rapid testing kits from China and South Korea; it is unclear how many were manufactured by Bioeasy.
Medical professionals in the Czech Republic have also said that rapid tests from China were not working properly, but it was not clear whether these tests were also made by Bioeasy.
Spain has been ravaged by the virus outbreak that originated in China at the end of 2019. Spain’s cases have climbed to more than 56,000, the fourth-highest in the world, behind China, Italy, and the US.
As the outbreak has slowed in China — which has frequently reported no new daily domestic cases — the country has sent medical workers and donated medical equipment such as masks and tests to other countries.
Story cited here.
