Covid-19: China uses anal swabs to test for infections

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 27): Medical authorities in China are now using anal swabs on its citizens deemed to have a high risk of contracting COVID-19, AFP reported today.

Chinese broadcaster CCTV revealed that anal swabs were taken from residents of neighbourhoods with confirmed infections in Beijing last week. People placed in designated quarantine facilities have also undergone the anal swab test.

Li Tongzeng, a senior doctor from Beijing's You'an Hospital, told CCTV that anal swabs "can increase the detection rate of infected people" as the virus stays “longer in the anus than in the respiratory tract”.

The new test of course brought out the jokes on social media, especially on Weibo, with a netizen saying: "Low harm, but extreme humiliation."

Another person who went for the test said: "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."

Will such a test be done in Malaysia soon? Yikes.

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