Commission suspends mask deliveries over defects

"The masks do not meet the necessary requirements for FFP2 masks and should not be used by medial professional treating Covid-19 patients," reads the letter sent by Poland to the EU commissioner for health, Stella Kyriakides, on Wednesday.

"It is of utmost importance to inform other member states of our results in order to precent putting medical professionals at risks as the masks do not protect against coronavirus," it adds.

Earlier this month, the commission started distributing some 1.5m masks to 17 EU countries plus the UK to protect healthcare workers.

However, the commission has informed all member states and the UK about the problem, a commission spokesperson said on Thursday - adding that the Netherlands has also identified similar problems.

In the letter address to the commission, Szumowski suggests that the EU's executive body should demand the manufacturer send another batch of masks - but this time matching EU standards.

The 1.5m masks are the first batch of 10m masks purchased by the commission via the Emergency Support Instrument, which aims to directly support the EU's healthcare system by mobilising €2.7m from the EU's long-term budget.

The manufacturer is located in China but the supplier was in Germany, commission sources told this website.

Quality control?

"The commission has scrupulously followed all control measures verifying that these masks were useable - doing all necessary diligences with the provider," a commission spokesperson said on Thursday.

However, once the masks are sent out to member states, quality also needs to be re-checked - this is what Polish authorities and others did.

"The quality of the masks is utmost importance for us that is why we ask member states to keep us put to date on the results of their analysis of these masks," the spokesperson also said, adding that this information will help the commission to evaluate next steps.

However, this is not the first time EU countries have faced problems with faulty medical supplies during the pandemic.

And the EU's anti-fraud office Olaf is investigating the sale of fake medical, personal protection, and hygiene products.

Among others, the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Slovakia and the Czech Republic have been victims of fraud when trying to increase their availability of tests or masks.

"Millions of substandard medical products with fake EU conformity certificates have been seized in several member states," Olaf announced on Wednesday (13 May).

Olaf has also identified fraudsters trying to sell alternative medicine products that are not effective against Covid-19.

For example, traditional Chinese medicine pills, which are not authorised in the EU, were discovered in one member state.