KN95 masks from China unusable

The Canadian government said Friday that one million KN95 masks imported from China did not meet its strict standards and so could not be distributed to frontline health workers amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Public Health Agency of Canada "has identified approximately one million KN95 masks as non-compliant with specifications for healthcare settings," a spokesman said.

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"These items were not distributed to provinces and territories for frontline health care response, and are being subsequently assessed for use in non-healthcare settings," he said.

Chinese model KN95 masks are similar to N95 masks, as well as the FFP2 model used in Europe.