China intensifies crackdown on crimes related to personal protective devices

BEIJING -- China's top quality watchdog said Sunday that the country has enhanced efforts on combating the illegal production and sale of personal protective equipment (PPE) amid its fight against the novel coronavirus epidemic.

As of April 24, market regulators had seized about 89 million faulty face masks and 418,000 other defective PPE items, Gan Lin, deputy head of the State Administration for Market Regulation, told a press conference.

Faulty disinfection items worth more than 7.6 million yuan (about $1.07 million) were seized.

Regulators had investigated and dealt with a total of 29,906 cases and issued fines totaling 350 million yuan, according to Gan.

Of the total cases, 757 were transferred to police for further investigation and punishment.