Having become compulsory to go to China, rectal (or anal) screening is more and more frequent in the country. More effective than screening through the nose or throat, it can detect the virus with certainty and could therefore help contain the epidemic.
Is rectal screening the most effective?
Generally, the rectal swab test is reserved for people who have been in epidemic foci. However, it is an increasingly common practice in China. According to public television CCTV, more than a thousand teachers and students have taken an anal test in Daxing, south of Beijing. In total, more than a million residents have already been subjected to rectal screening, according to the news magazine Newsweek. This measure is also imposed on travelers coming from abroad, who must submit to it during their quarantine at the hotel.
For Li Tongzeng, doctor at You’an Hospital in Beijing, it is an additional tool that can more safely detect Covid-19: ” The coronavirus stays in the anus longer than in the airways. Rectal screening increases the detection rate of infected people, especially by new variants “. He adds that “ all of these tests, in the throat, nose, rectal screening and blood test, are means that limit the risk of missing a positive case “.
A test deemed “embarrassing, humiliating”
Although these tests are becoming more widespread, they should not be standardized because they are ” not practical enough “And many people find this practice embarrassing:” It’s not too painful, but certainly super humiliating »Reacts a Chinese Internet user. Others play on humor: ” I had two anal screenings. In the process, a sample was also taken from my throat. Each time, I was afraid that the nurse would forget to change the swab in between Jokes a young Internet user.