First there was the false positive by an aide that sent Benjamin Netanyahu into unnecessary self-quarantine for two weeks. Then lab workers discovered that liquid reagent used in COVID test kits to activate the testing medium was defective and had been contaminated with common coronavirus, causing false positives for COVID-19. Now, the Israeli health ministry has banned the use of the Chinese tests after more than 10,000 were shown to contain the defective reagent.

Concern over the reagent substance was raised when a lab employee noticed that the color obtained during the test was different than it was supposed to be. According to media reports, the health system believes that around 10,000 tests have been taken with this liquid in recent days and some – if not all – of these tests could have to be retaken. After deliberation with health officials in Israel, use of the Chinese tests halted for good.

In recent weeks, American cities and municipalities have touted broad-based testing for antibodies as an indication that COVID-19 is less lethal than first suspected, in places like Santa Clara, California, claiming that 55 times more Americans have already had the virus than first believed. That finding, based on a sampling of 81,000 residents there was used as basis for the now famous Stanford study which claims quizzically that COVID-19 is less deadly than common flu, despite 55,000 American deaths in the span of a month. More than an entire year of flu deaths in a given year. You’d think some statistics could be more accurately computed on a dinner napkin.

The culprit? The same iteration of early generation, mass-produced Chinese tests ordered en masse by nations around the world desperate to quickly raise testing capacity to get a more accurate snapshot of COVID’s movement in their populations. In some cases, the Chinese tests have been shown to produce false positives at a rate of 13 to 1. 13 inaccurate readings for every single accurate result.

Still, for COVID denialists and for pro-Chinese media outlets hoping to minimize the virus, the faulty tests have been like manna from the heavens of their scientific delusion, giving credence to nonsensical claims on social media and minimization of what clinical studies (that don’t rely on Chinese test kits) have shown to be the most virulent atypical pathogen in the modern age.