Hay! Ben Dover!
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Chinese health authorities are ordering the use of controversial but more precise anal swabs to detect COVID-19 for a third year running as an Omicron cluster in Beijing grew to three people as of Wednesday.
After the city detected its first case of the highly transmittable variant on Saturday, The Beijing News said at least 27 anal tests had been administered in the apartment complex where the infected woman lives. Health workers also conducted extensive environmental swabs to trace the source of the transmission, the newspaper reported.
China has deployed anal swabs in major cities including Beijing and Shanghai since 2020. In the capital, the method was used in combination with antibody tests as well as throat and nasal swabs to screen millions last winter. While the approach isn't considered practical for tracking larger clusters—an established method known as "pooling" is preferred—anal swabs are thought to be more accurate, especially in COVID hotspots.
In a report that aired this time in 2021, infectious disease expert Dr. Li Tongzeng, with Beijing You'an Hospital, told China's state broadcaster CCTV that anal swabs were effective at detecting infections in asymptomatic cases or in individuals with mild symptoms. Both groups tend to recover from the illness more quickly, he said. "It's possible that there will be no trace of the virus in their throat after three to five days," he added.
"What we've found is that in some infected patients, the coronavirus survives for a longer period of time in their digestive tract or excrement than in their respiratory tract," Li said at the time. The method, while uncomfortable, could increase the rate of detectability and lower the chances of a missed diagnosis, he said.
Dr. Li didn't return Newsweek's request to comment in this article.
American and Japanese diplomats were subjected to the anal tests in early 2021, resulting in considerable distress and some protest. In China, however, the method may be key to maintaining its zero-tolerance approach to the virus.
