Number 10 has said it 'doesn't recognise' claims that the government spent $20 million on Chinese coronavirus tests that didn't work.
The New York Times reported overnight that the government was offered 2 million test kits, but they had to collect them from a facility in China.
Officials were allegedly told told the price was $20 million "take it or leave it".
At the time, Boris Johnson announced the tests could be a "real game changer" and were "as simple as a pregnancy test."
It's claimed the Foreign Office scrambled officials to China to inspect the kits.
But Oxford University testing labs said they were not reliable enough to be used by the public.
Downing Street said it did not recognise the figure of £2million which had been reported.
A Downing Street spokesman added: "What we have said is where tests are shown not to have any chance of working we will work to recover costs."
On March 24, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said some 3.5 million test kits had been purchased and were on the way to the UK.
On April 4, he admitted all the tests had failed.
He told the BBC: "I think that the antibody test, the blood test, at the moment we haven't got a reliable home test.
"If we manage to get one then that can be easily replicated and we can get into even higher figures, much higher figures."
On April 6, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said they hoped to get a refund.
"No test so far has proved to be good enough to use," he said.
"We continue to work with the testing companies, we're in a constant dialogue with them and we give feedback to them when their products fail to meet the required standards.
"If the tests don't work then the orders that we placed will be cancelled and wherever possible we will recover the costs."
