"The set order was about 500,000, and all of them have been recalled as a precaution," Maila told AFP.
The South Korean company issued a recall after the WHO again in June flagged the problem.
South Africa, which launched a massive HIV testing campaign in 2010, had already begun using the finger-prick test kits. The WHO said the kits did not return false results but were plagued by inconclusive readings.
"The test displayed an unacceptably high rate of invalid test results.... Thus no test interpretation is possible and so one is likely to have no result rather than an incorrect result," the organisation said.
South Africa has the world's largest HIV caseload, with six million people currently living with the virus.
Local media reported the tests had been bought for 22.5 million rands ($2.8 million, 2.2 million euros).
Source: AFP
