China’s Zero-Tolerance Covid Tactics Now Include Anal Swabs
- Schoolchildren, teachers in Beijing tested with new method
- Officials are fixated on rooting out all vestiges of the virus
Photographer: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
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China is ramping up efforts to neutralize the coronavirus as new outbreaks challenge its already stringent pandemic strategy, with another weapon added to an arsenal of border curbs, mass testing and hard lockdowns: anal swabs.
While there’s no nationwide policy on use of the technique, some residents in China’s northern regions -- where more than 1,700 cases have emerged -- have been subjected to the swabs with little warning. The method involves the insertion of a saline-soaked cotton swab about two-to-three centimeters into the anus, with the sample then tested for active traces of the virus.