Several European countries are not happy with the quality of equipment and protective gear being supplied by China to battle the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
While life is touching normalcy in the mainland where the novel coronavirus originated last December, other countries are on full battle mode as new cases and deaths keep increasing with each passing day.
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A few days ago, The Netherlands recalled thousands of masks imported from China because of quality issues. Spain also complained about defective imported test kits supplied by a Chinese manufacturer, media reports said.
After several countries raised doubts about the quality of products from China, the country's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a news conference on Monday, “A large number of Chinese manufacturers are working around the clock to help other countries save lives. Our sincerity and assistance is real. If problems occur in this process, the Chinese side will talk to relevant departments."
On Tuesday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that states across the US are facing a shortage of essential medical supplies even as the number of cases continues to rise dramatically. He said that states are forced to compete with each other for supplies, adding that “ironically” most entities are looking to buy from China.
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“We need supplies desperately and we’re working on that... we’re in a situation where you have 50 states all competing for supplies. The federal government is now also competing for supplies. Private hospitals are also competing for supplies. So we’ve created a situation where you literally have hundreds of entities looking to buy the same exact materials, basically from the same place which is China, ironically enough. We’re fighting amongst ourselves. We’re competing amongst ourselves,” Cuomo said at a press conference.
The United States has become the country with the most COVID-19 cases in the world with New York as its epicenter.