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People Flying into China Can Now Be Given Anal Swab Covid-19 Test

People Flying into China Can Now Be Given Anal Swab Covid-19 Test

Chinese media has been informed that international arrivals in the capital could be ordered to take the tests by health officials

Rebecca Shepherd

Rebecca Shepherd

People flying into the Chinese capital of Beijing could be given an anal swab to screen for Covid-19.

Chinese state media outlets have been given the information by an employee of a Beijing epidemic control department who said international arrivals could be ordered to take the tests by health officials, although they are not compulsory for everyone.

PA

In addition to this, people flying into Shanghai from high-risk areas and travellers flying on planes with at least five positive cases of the coronavirus must take a host of tests - including anal swabbing, according to the MailOnline.

China's disease control centre has explained the test is performed with a sterile swab that is inserted up to two inches into the anus before being gently rotated out.

According to medical professionals, this way of testing can prevent infections from being missed because traces stay there longer than they do in the respiratory tract. Nice, right?

Li Tongzeng from the Beijing You'an Hospital explained that Covid-19 survives longer in excrement or the anus than it does in the throat and nasal passage.

Medical staff wait to collect swab samples from residents for Covid-19 test.
PA

There have been growing concerns from foreign governments with the US, Japan and Germany all raising issues with the invasive tests.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) has requested that Beijing stop using this method on Japanese residents.

According to Reuters, spokesperson Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said on Monday (1 March) that the government has not received any updates from the Chinese capital indicating it would stop using this process on Japanese citizens.

Speaking at a news conference, Kato said: "Some Japanese reported to our embassy in China that they received anal swab tests, which caused a great psychological pain."

He added that they will continue to urge China to excuse Japanese residents from being subjected to this procedure, noting it 'has not been confirmed anywhere else in the world'.

Kato Katsunobu Chief Cabinet Secretary.
PA

The news arrives after Washington protested the use of anal swabs on American diplomats in China last month, describing it as 'undignified'.

A State Department spokesperson told Vice last month: "The State Department never agreed to this kind of testing and protested directly to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when we learned that some staff were subject to it."

The spokesperson said that Beijing assured Washington that the tests were carried out 'in error', adding: "We have instructed staff to decline this test if it is asked of them, as was done in the past."

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: News, Coronavirus, Weird, China