China has started anal swabs to test those it considers at high risk of contracting coronavirus disease (COVID-19), a move that has drawn mixed reactions from netizens.
Anal swabs have been described by doctors as more effective in detecting COVID-19.
Picking up a report by broadcaster CCTV, a report by Agence France-Presse said officials took anal swabs from residents of neighborhoods with confirmed COVID-19 cases in Beijing last week.
Those who were staying in quarantine facilities have also undergone the test.
Due to small, localized outbreaks in recent weeks, multiple cities in northern China have been locked out from the rest of the country.
Mass testing campaigns have been conducted using mostly throat and nose swabs.
Li Tongzeng, a senior doctor from Beijing’s You’an Hospital, told CCTV that anal swabs method “can increase the detection rate of infected people” as traces of the virus linger longer in the anus than in the respiratory tract.
Several users of China’s popular Twitter-like Weibo social media platform reacted to the method.
“Low harm, but extreme humiliation,” a netizen said, using a laughing emoticon.
Others who were able to take the anal swab had their own dark humor.
“I’ve done two anal swabs. Every time I did one I had to do a throat swab afterwards — I was so scared the nurse would forget to use a new swab,” one Weibo user joked.
CCTV said on Sunday that because of the inconvenience it causes, anal swabs would not be used as widely as other methods. (CC)
