China Denies Conducting COVID-19 Anal Tests on US Diplomats | International | News

AFP

February 25, 2021 – 11 a.m.

China on Thursday denied that it asked US diplomats to later undergo COVID-19 anal tests US media reported that employees of the US State Department complained that they were being forced to do so.

China, which has largely controlled the spread of the coronavirus epidemic in its territory, said last month that anal diagnostic tests are more effective than nasal tests because the virus can stay in the digestive system for longer.

According to lhe US media Vice and Washington Post, State Department employees deployed in China, complained they had to ‘accidentally’ have an anal test COVID-19, despite the fact that they are in principle exempt from it.

Asked about a press conference, the spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied this information.

“China has never required US diplomats to undergo anal sampling,” said Zhao Lijian.

During a recent spike in COVID-19 cases in Beijing, the diagnostic method for rectal swab swabs was used, and also recommended for use on international travelers arriving in Beijing.wherever they have to comply with a quarantine.

A foreign diplomat told AFP that he had refused to undergo such a test after being quarantined on his return to China upon his return home. According to him, those responsible for the investigation did not insist.

In any case, the usual detection methods will certainly remain the most widely used, as the anal test is “less practical,” according to Chinese officials quoted by the press. (I)