As the pandemic worsened, U.S. told Nevada not to use UAE-donated COVID-19 test kits amid China spying fears, though it offered no evidence to support its fears.
The warnings from the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department led the office of Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak in April to direct a Nevada hospital not to use any of the donated 250,000 test kits as officials turned down an offered laboratory deal.
The unusual offer came at a time when Nevada, like other states, were in a mad scramble amid mounting COVID-19 cases and a shortage of test kits. Nevada had shut down the Las Vegas casinos that power the state’s economy as it rushed to set up temporary hospitals, stockpile ventilators and assemble test kits.
Murren told the AP that the initial G42 proposal was to set up a “turnkey” high-capacity lab processing COVID-19 tests. Days after G42 announced its aid to Nevada, the U.S. government broached its concerns with the state. The University Medical Center used 20,000 specimen collection kits offered by G42, which are comprised of nasal swabs and tubes to store samples, spokesman Scott Kerbs said. UMC did not use the donated 250,000 analysis kits because they were “not compliant with UMC’s laboratory technology,” he said.
The State Department told the AP that it shares information to Americans abroad “regarding safety and security threats that might affect them. ... In this case, the Department did not deem the use of BGI COVID-19 tests to be a threat to safety.”The push to convince Nevada not to use the BGI tests comes amid the increasingly antagonistic relationship between the U.S. and China under the Trump administration that has witnessed an ongoing trade war and the expulsions of diplomats and journalists.
The U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi quietly declined an offer by the Emirati government to conduct free coronavirus testing of its diplomats because of concerns about Chinese involvement. It did not publicize that decision. The UAE also is home to some 5,000 American troops and Dubai’s Jebel Ali port, the U.S. Navy’s busiest port of call outside of the U.S.
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