'Preemptive Prejudice', says China after ICMR tells states to stop using Chinese COVID-19 test kits

New Delhi, Apr 28: China on Tuesday expressed concern over the Indian Council of Medical Research's (ICMR) decision to stop using rapid antibody testing kits made by two Chinese firms.

"China attaches great importance to the quality of exported medical products. Recently, Chinese Embassy in India has maintained close contact with ICMR and the two Chinese companies to find out the real situation," Chinese embassy spokesperson Ji Rong said in a statement on Tuesday.

It added that the Covid-19 antibody rapid test kits produced by these two Chinese companies have been exported to and many countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

"It is "unfair and irresponsible for certain individuals to label Chinese products as 'faulty' and look at the issues with preemptive prejudice."

Ji, however, did not clarify who are the individuals she was referring to. At the same time, the spokesperson said China will continue to support India's fight against the pandemic and will jointly work with New Delhi to overcome the challenge "at an early date" to protect people of the two countries from the infection.

India procured around 5,00,000 rapid antibody test kits from the two Chinese firms nearly two weeks back and they were distributed to several states reporting rising cases of the coronavirus infection.

The ICMR on Monday asked the states to stop using COVID-19 rapid testing kits procured from China due to their poor quality even as the government said not a single rupee will be lost in cancelling the orders as payments were not made to the Chinese suppliers.

In a communication to chief secretaries of all states and union territories, the ICMR asked them to stop using the kits saying it found "wide variation" in effectiveness of the equipment supplied by the two Chinese firms despite promise of good performance.