Chinese healthcare authorities have started to order the increased use of anal swabs to test for the coronavirus following an uptick in new COVID-19 cases across the nation.
Sources cited by state-run television CCTV said that the tests are typically reserved for high-risk cases such as those already placed in quarantine sites.
Medical experts said that anal swabs are much more accurate in detecting the presence of the virus in a patient's body when compared to the traditional throat and nose swabs.
Physicians in China argued for the increased use of the test as it can detect the virus much more easily. Some people who had already tested negative for the virus using nasal and throat swabs were found to still be infected with the virus after being tested via the more intrusive method.
The test involves the inserting of a swab one to two inches into the rectum to gather a sample from the lower digestive tract.
Multiple sources said that healthcare authorities had already started to use the method on a group of schoolchildren and their teachers located in a coronavirus hotspot in Beijing. The test was conducted last week and healthcare workers also used throat and nose swabs to compare results.
Bloomberg News reported that Chinese authorities have begun to require travelers arriving in Beijing to undergo anal swabbing. One traveler told reporters that she was asked to use an anal swab when she was placed under quarantine in Beijing.
Some doctors have argued against the procedure and said that the inconvenience of the test will likely be a barrier for a lot of patients.
"If we add anal swab testing, it can raise our rate of identifying infected patients but of course considering that collecting anal swabs is not as convenient as throat swabs, at the moment only key groups such as those in quarantine receive both," one doctor told reporters.
After months of successfully containing any further spread of the coronavirus, China has seen an influx of new confirmed cases this month. Government officials have urged residents to suspend their travel plans ahead of the Lunar New Year next month to mitigate the further spread of the disease.
