OTTAWA — Canada’s public health authority says around 1 million KN95 respirators acquired from China have failed to meet federal Covid-19 standards for use by front-line health professionals.
As a result, the federal government did not dispense the noncomplying masks to equipment-hungry provinces and territories, said Eric Morrissette a spokesperson for the Public Health Agency of Canada.
The failure of these respirators to meet Canadian requirements is yet another challenge for the country as it fights to secure PPE and medical supplies amid what has become a ferocious global competition.