(Asian News Hub) – China make Covid anal swabs mandatory for all foreign arrivals after Japan and US blasted ‘humiliating’ procedure.
Beijing claims the procedure – which involves a 5cm long saline-soaked swab shoved up a patient’s bum – is more accurate that other on-the-spot virus tests.
Doctors in China have been using the anal test on quarantined patients to check if they are free of the coronavirus.
Li Tongzeng, a respiratory disease medic, told state media that Covid traces stay detectable for longer in poo samples than they do in the nose or throat.
However, the prospect of foreign visitors being swabbed up the bum has sparked controversy.
Japan is calling on China to stop using the “undignified” test as some passengers said it caused them “psychological distress”.
Beijing has denied the claims but Washington has slammed the tests as “undignified”.
In response, Lu Hongzhou, a Chinese doctor, told state media that travellers could provide a poo sample at the airport instead.
Swab tests at Chinese airports are part of the Communist Party’s sweeping “scientific adjustments” aimed at controlling the Covid pandemic.
The procedure involves inserting a cotton swab about three to five centimetres into the anus and gently rotating it.
And much like the nasal method, the swab is then removed before being placed inside a sample container.
The entire procedure is said to take about 10 seconds, according to China’s National Health Commission.
Last month, China was forced to tell worried citizens they won’t waddle like penguins after getting the anal swab test.
Beijing’s move comes after a fake vial video showed people walking stiff-legged like the flightless birds.
AGENCY
