Reuters

South Africa, one of the world's most AIDS-ravaged countries, is recalling more than a million faulty condoms handed out earlier this month.

Thousands of boxes of condoms bearing the country's Bureau of Standards stamp were delivered to hotels, bars and restaurants in advance of celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the African National Congress on Jan. 8, the City Press reports.

But the sub-standard rubbers leak or burst when used, according to the health advocacy group Treatment Action Campaign, which alerted the provincial health department after receiving complaints from the public.

"People would claim that the condoms burst. When we investigated the complaints, it turned out the condoms are porous," TAC's Sello Mokhalipi told the paper.

Free State health spokesperson Jabu Mbalula said the department is looking into how the estimated 1.35 million condoms received quality-assurance approval and will have them tested in a lab, the report says.

"There is no reason for people to panic," Mbalula said.

But Mokhalipi told the BBC the large number of faulty prophylactics out there is "of great concern."

"When you poured water in them, the water seeped through," he said.