Canada declares 1m KN95 masks imported from China unsuitable for human usage

Canadian on Friday declared the one million KN95 masks procured from China unsuitable for human usage, saying that they failed to meet the country’s standards. Thus, the Canadian government decided that the masks be discarded, restraining their distribution to health workers carrying out their duties in the fight against coronavirus in the country.

It was highlighted that the Chinese KN95 masks are same as the N95 and FFP2 masks used in Europe.

Public Services and Procurement Minister, Anita Anand, was said to have remarked that, “Much of the world’s supply is manufactured in China and moving materials out of that country is highly complex.”

It was gathered that the Public Health Agency of Canada “…identified approximately one million KN95 masks as non-compliant with specifications for healthcare settings.”

Accordingly, “these items were not distributed to provinces and territories for frontline health care response and are being subsequently assessed for use in non-healthcare settings,” the minister had said.

It was disclosed that domestic production of masks and other medical supplies “is ramping up.” Three more Canadian companies were identified to have been awarded contracts to produce 16 million “medical face shields.”

General Motors was said to have declared in a statement that it would commence production of one million masks monthly for the Canadian government at its assembly plant in Oshawa, which was shuttered in December 2019.

It was revealed that Canada took delivery of over 10 million masks in early April, thereafter,  ordered for over 60 million more N95 masks.