China has made anal swab tests for coronavirus mandatory for almost all international arrivals and has sparked a controversy among countries that have called it humiliating, reports New York Post.?
According to Reuters, the Chinese Center for Disease Control says the test is performed with a sterile cotton swab, which looks like a very long ear bud, that is inserted 3 cm to 5 cm (1.2 inches to 2 inches) into the anus before being gently rotated out.
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Early this week, Tokyo complained about the tests on some Japanese travellers 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.
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, reports Reuters.?
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Last month, U.S. media outlet Vice cited a State Department official as saying U.S. diplomats received the tests. The Chinese foreign ministry rejected the report.
While anal swabs are not compulsory for all international arrivals in China, one staffer of Beijing's Daxing district epidemic control department told the state-backed Global Times that international visitors to Beijing were subject to such testing.
'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.
According to Mail Online, last month, footage emerged purporting to show people waddling like penguins after taking one of the anal swabs.?Chinese authorities labelled the video 'fake', promising citizens that they would not walk like that after taking the tests.? ?