Hospitals were given risky masks by the National Board of Health and Welfare

The two state authorities identified municipalities and regions as responsible when SVT on Thursday revealed the purchase of substandard Chinese respiratory protection.

"It is incredibly unfortunate that poor protection was purchased, and above all that they were also used," the Swedish National Board of Emergency Management, Johanna Sandwall, told SVT.

"Very, very seriously," said the Swedish Work Environment Authority's Deputy Director General Håkan Olsson, but dismissed that the authority had failed.

On the contrary, the agency has facilitated the availability of protective equipment by issuing temporary permits for safe but non-CE marked products, he pointed out.

But SVT can now show that the authorities themselves make a model of respiratory protection that has been rejected because of such a condition.

This is the model "S.sangso", manufactured by Chinese Homar Bio Technology (Guangzhou) Holding. The National Board of Health ordered the mask on March 15 in 300,000 copies. 240,000 were delivered to at least nine regions.

But when the Stockholm region tests S.sangso, it releases much more of the droplets that can carry the corona virus than it should. The National Board of Health is applying the handbrake and on April 8 the mask is retracted.

The authority is ordering a new test of respiratory protection. This time the result is approved. On May 22, the Swedish Work Environment Authority allows S.sangso to be used again.

SVT can now show that the same model, after the protection has been granted an exemption, has been failed in tests carried out by the Total Defense Research Institute (FOI) on the order of a private supplier.

In the test from June 23, S.sangso passes through 22–45 percent of the droplets. This is up to 7.5 times more than the 6 percent allowed.

FOI points out that there are small holes in two of three masks.

According to the National Board of Health and Welfare's purchasing manager Erik Magnusson, the authority did not distribute the 60,000 masks that the authority has in stock "after the signals that they may not have the right quality came and also after they were tested and approved". He does not know if the distributors have been used or used today.

When SVT asks the country's regions, it turns out that at least Norrbotten, which received 50,000 pieces, and Östergötland, which received 9,600, still use S.sangso. Several regions and municipalities have also had respiratory protection.

Since SVT confronted the National Board of Health and Welfare about the mask, the authority recommends that it no longer be used. However, crisis management manager Johanna Sandwall claims that what the National Board of Health has delivered has been tested and approved.

- But as an extra precaution, we slow down its use. So we have to decide if we should just test again or if we should just discard the shit, she says.

The Swedish Work Environment Authority writes that it has "judged that the product is sufficiently safe and meets the basic safety requirements". At the same time, the authority points out that it is "the employer who bears the ultimate responsibility for providing safe protective equipment".

The Stockholm region chose to refrain from the mask even though it was approved by the Swedish Work Environment Authority.

"It is not used because it has failed the Stockholm region's own tests," writes the region.

Nor does the Stockholm region rely on a simple approved result. Each batch, including previously approved models, is tested because the region has found that one and the same model can vary in quality.

Manufacturer Homar Bio-Technology disclaims that the factory sells inferior masks.

"We have only worked with a supplier in Sweden and only know about a real test in Sweden on masks made in our factory, a test that got approved."

The factory points out that there are many pirated products in circulation.

This review is part of a European journalism project coordinated by the international digging editor OCCRP.