China Starts Using Anal Swabs For COVID-19 Testing

The Chinese Global Times reported that China’s health authorities have begun implementing a new method of testing COVID-19, using an anal swab instead of a throat swab.

Some Chinese medical experts believe that this method may be more accurate than the old ones. This is because the coronavirus stays in the anus longer than other areas of the body where samples were previously taken, according to a doctor from Beijing.

COVID-19 testing using anal swabs is being carried out in Daxing District, some quarantine locations, and some schools in the capital Beijing.

Beijing is running a large-scale COVID-19 testing campaign for about 2 million people after discovering 50 new cases in the community.

Mass testing was conducted after a part of the capital was put under lockdown. Viral genome sequencing revealed that the contagious variant of the virus discovered in the UK last month also appeared in Beijing.

The capital has been put on high alert since then. More than 1,200 people were tested at a school as one student had contact with an asymptomatic patient with the UK stain. All close contacts of the suspected student were testing with methods using nose, saliva, and anal swabs. But all the results were negative.

Needless to say, an anal swab is a more inconvenient test than a throat swab or nasal swab. An image of the procedure, cited by the National Post, shows that a stick with a cotton swab at the tip should be inserted 5cm deep into the person’s anus and swiped a few times. If a person is infected, the sample will contain the SARS-CoV-2 virus’s nucleic acid.

At the moment, there are no reports saying that we should prioritize anal swab testing over the other types of COVID-19 tests commonly used.

Even Chinese scientists don’t have data to prove anal swabs that are supposed to take around 10 seconds are more helpful and more accurate than conventional throat swabs.

A Korean student studying in Beijing said that the anal test made her feel ashamed. Some other cities like Guangzhou may also be implementing this type of testing. A social media user in China recounted that she had to take a sample of her anal fluid on the 14th day of quarantine in Guangzhou.

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