A report from Netherlands says 1.3M face mask supplied from China are defective

A couple notes on the linked news source (NOS) from a dutch person. The NOS is the national news source, it is government funded but not state operated. As far as I can tell there's no significant bias to their reporting.

Tangentially it's a great way to learn dutch as they strive to keep the language they use simple without simplifying the issues themselves. As you'll note in the translation I've linked it's mostly short sentences without complex overarching grammatical constructions.

The NOS is currently mirroring the advice RIVM provides on corona, which is the official governmental body dealing with population health and environmental issues.

it says Netherlands, i see no mention of New Zealand

Translation of the linked article:

A large part of the mouth masks that the Dutch government has imported from China is unsound. Because the masks were already distributed to hospitals, the Ministry of Health has recalled them.

This concerns almost half of a batch of 1.3 million so-called FFP2 masks, 600,000 pieces. Healthcare providers use it to treat critically ill patients with Covid infection. Faulty masks put doctors and nurses at risk.

The masks have been rejected because they do not meet the safety requirements. They do not fit well on the face or have membranes that do not function properly -- membranes are the very fine filters that have to stop virus particles.

"The mouth masks that are not satisfactory have been recalled," the Ministry of Health told the NOS. The ministry cannot say with certainty whether no doctor has worn such a mask.

Hospitals own initiative A number of hospitals had the masks tested by TNO on their own initiative. The batch of masks was distributed across the hospitals without being tested to see if they meet the quality requirements.

"When they were delivered to our hospital, I immediately rejected those masks," said a person from a hospital who received a batch of defective masks. "If those masks do not close properly, the virus particles can simply pass. We do not use them. That is unsafe for our people."

TNO is not allowed to provide information about the results and results of the tests. "That is contractually stipulated," said a spokesperson.

Depressing quality The rejected mouth masks are said to be of unfortunate quality. Not of FFP2 quality nor of the lesser level of safety FFP1. "Some sort of FFP0.8 at best," said this source.

"We received 2400 of those masks. They are still in storage, we have not used one," says a spokesman for the Radboud umc. There it was discovered that the caps did not fit well on the face.

A spokesperson for the Catharina Hospital in Eindhoven says that the shipment was immediately rejected. "This is not a stand-alone event, there is a lot of junk on the market. There are people trying to take advantage of the current crisis, at high prices."

Sterilize as an artifice The source says that the recall has been launched head over heels to get the unsafe masks out of circulation as soon as possible. Several other physicians closely involved in fighting the corona outbreak are concerned about the spread of unsafe protective equipment across the country.

There has been a shortage of good mouth masks for some time. That is why hospitals resort to emergency solutions. They sterilize used masks and then reuse them.

Written response from the Ministry of VWS In a written response to the NOS, the ministry states that efforts are being made to meet the need for protective equipment that is scarce all over the world. "Due to these shortages, we can find ourselves in a situation where only protective equipment is available that does not meet the highest standards. This is an issue in all countries."

"Last Saturday, a first shipment from a Chinese manufacturer was partly delivered. These are masks with a KN95 quality certificate. The Ministry of VWS received a first signal that the quality of this shipment did not meet the criteria during inspection. Part of this shipment was delivered to healthcare providers, the rest of the cargo was immediately put on hold and was not distributed further. "

"A second test also showed that the masks did not meet the quality standard. It has now been decided not to use this whole shipment anymore. New shipments will undergo an additional test."

Later in the day, the ministry indicated in an additional response that the unsound parties were picked out by the hospitals themselves. They informed the inspection that they then took the mouth masks.

However, the ministry could not say with certainty that no doctor has worn such a mask or that these masks were not used in the past week before the inspection intervened.

On the advice of the American CDC, which is the counterpart of our RIVM, the Ministry of VWS has approved the Chinese quality standard KN95 for mouth masks. The minister reported this earlier this week in a letter to the House of Representatives.