China Brings Back Invasive and 'Undignified' COVID Test Just Before Olympics Are Set to Begin
China is looking for the coronavirus in all the wrong places — according to critics who oppose the return to the use of anal swabs to test for the virus.
China says it uses the test because it is more accurate than others, according to The Sun.
The test involves inserting a 5-centimeter long saline swab. The swab then gets analyzed in a lab.
New COVID-19 test involves anal swab https://t.co/ra1lMqJOeI pic.twitter.com/yLgLkZccXL
— Forbes (@Forbes) January 27, 2021
Japan wants the “undignified” and invasive test stopped, saying some who have had it said they suffered “psychological distress.”
China remains unmoved, and according to the Chinese newspaper, The Beijing News, at least 27 people underwent anal swab tests after what officials said was Beijing’s first omicron case, which was detected in an apartment building.
Li Tongzeng, a respiratory disease medic, said traces of the virus last longer in the anal cavity than in the nose or throat.
Last year, the use of the tests prompted a diplomat row, according to Vice.
American diplomats had been subjected to the tests, according to the State Department.
“The State Department never agreed to this kind of testing and protested directly to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when we learned that some staff were subject to it,” a State Department spokesman explained.
China’s government replied that the testing was done “in error,” the spokesman said.
The State Department then put its foot down.
“We have instructed staff to decline this test if it is asked of them, as was done in the past,” the spokesman stated.
On Friday, China announced that the Olympic torch relay will be cordoned off from the public due to COVIC-19 concerns, according to the Daily Mail.
China’s Beijing to maintain COVID emergency status as Winter Olympics loom https://t.co/u2ILmjDCWz pic.twitter.com/Mqp3yQU6rz
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 22, 2022
“Safety will always be prioritized for this torch relay,” said Yang Haibin, a Games organizing committee official. “Given epidemic control considerations … the torch relay and ceremonial activities will be arranged in safe and controllable closed venues.”
Although China banned foreign visitors months ago, last week it scrapped its plan to sell tickets to the Olympic venues to Chinese citizens, citing COVID.
China will seal all athletes in the Olympic venues, which already have wire and metal surrounding them, according to NPR.
The winter Olympics will run from Feb. 4 through Feb. 20.
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