Anal coronavirus tests?

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Japan asks China to stop anal swab tests for COVID-19 on its citizens
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Publishing date:Mar 01, 2021 • 1 day ago • 1 minute read • comment bubble9 Comments
Chinese epidemic control workers wear protective suits as they watch over an area where people were undergoing nucleic acid swab tests for COVID-19 at a government testing site in Xicheng District during an organized tour on June 24, 2020 in Beijing, China.
Chinese epidemic control workers wear protective suits as they watch over an area where people were undergoing nucleic acid swab tests for COVID-19 at a government testing site in Xicheng District during an organized tour on June 24, 2020 in Beijing, China. PHOTO BY KEVIN FRAYER /Getty Images
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TOKYO — Tokyo has requested Beijing to stop taking anal swab tests for COVID-19 on Japanese citizens as the procedure causes psychological pain, a government spokesman said on Monday.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said the government has not received a response that Beijing would change the testing procedure, so Japan would continue to ask China to alter the way of testing.


“Some Japanese reported to our embassy in China that they received anal swab tests, which caused a great psychological pain,” Kato told a news conference.

It was not known how many Japanese citizens received such tests for the coronavirus, he said.


Some Chinese cities are using samples taken from the anus to detect potential COVID-19 infections as China steps up screening to make sure no potential carrier of the new coronavirus is missed.

China’s foreign ministry denied last month that U.S. diplomats in the country had been required to take anal swab tests for COVID-19, following media reports that some had complained about the procedure.
torontosun.com

Japan asks China to stop anal swab tests for COVID-19 on its citizens

TOKYO — Tokyo has requested Beijing to stop taking anal swab tests for COVID-19 on Japanese citizens as the procedure causes psychological pain, a government…
torontosun.com torontosun.com
 
spaminator

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China's anal tests for COVID-19 upset visitors
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Publishing date:Mar 04, 2021 • 21 hours ago • 3 minute read • comment bubble8 Comments
Scientist wearing protective gloves examining dna samples
PHOTO BY FILE PHOTO /Getty Images
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BEIJING — Foreign visitors have been upset by China’s anal swab tests for COVID-19, prompting complaints of inconvenience and even psychological trauma, and stoking debate over their necessity.

A few cities, such as the capital, Beijing, Shanghai and the port city of Qingdao require the checks, in addition to nasal or throat swab tests, for some international arrivals, state media say.


WHAT ARE ANAL SWABS?

The Chinese Center for Disease Control says the test is performed with a sterile cotton swab, which looks like a very long earbud, that is inserted 3 cm to 5 cm (1.2 inches to 2 inches) into the anus before being gently rotated out.

WHY ANAL SWABS?

Such tests can ensure infections are spotted, since coronavirus traces can be detectable in the anus for longer than in the respiratory tract, some Chinese doctors told state media.

But a positive result does not necessarily mean the person tested can spread the virus, as inactive traces unable to replicate or infect others can also show positive, Jin Dongyan, a virology professor at the University of Hong Kong, told Reuters.

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FOREIGNERS ONLY?

Early this week, Tokyo complained about the tests on some Japanese travelers to China, saying they had caused “great psychological pain.”

South Korean visitors can now submit stool samples instead of “Chinese authorities taking them directly,” Choi Young-Sam, a spokesman of the South Korean foreign ministry, said on Tuesday.

Last month, U.S. media outlet Vice cited a State Department official as saying U.S. diplomats had been subjected to the tests. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said that to his knowledge, such tests had not been required of U.S. diplomats in China.

In a statement to Reuters on Thursday, the ministry said the virus prevention and control measures China was taking were based on science.

Anal swab tests are not exclusive to foreign visitors. During China’s last major round of infections in January, some cities performed them on unspecified segments of the local population.

ONLY IN CHINA?

Travellers flying into Shanghai must undertake a full battery of tests including anal swabs if more than five people on their airplane test positive for the virus, state media reported, citing one of the local CDC staff.

Travellers from regions where the virus is rampant or those who test positive on arrival also need to undergo such tests, according to the staffer.

While anal swabs are not compulsory for all international arrivals in China, one staffer of Beijing’s Daxing district epidemic control department told state-backed Global Times that international visitors to Beijing were subject to such testing.

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“If people are not familiar with the procedure for taking an anal swab test, our employees will help explain how it will be done,” she said.

Anal swab tests for the virus are not unique to China.

Galicia, in northwest Spain, has performed them on some hospitalized patients, a few newborns and those with psychiatric illnesses for whom it was impossible to administer nasal swabs, its health department told Reuters.


WHAT DOES THE WHO SAY?

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends testing respiratory tract specimens, where possible, to diagnose respiratory diseases because they give the best samples, spokesman Christian Lindmeier said in an email to Reuters.

“Fecal samples may offer an alternative testing material, especially in patients with gastrointestinal symptoms,” he said, but they are “less likely than respiratory samples to be positive in the first week of symptoms.”
torontosun.com

China's anal tests for COVID-19 upset visitors

BEIJING — Foreign visitors have been upset by China’s anal swab tests for COVID-19, prompting complaints of inconvenience and even psychological trauma, and…
torontosun.com torontosun.com
 
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