A queue to get tested in Hong Kong, China, November 30, 2020. -

Sputnik / SIPA

As the Chinese New Year approaches, China is increasingly using rectal Covid-19 screening to test at-risk subjects and travelers arriving from abroad.

The method is more reliable according to researchers, but it is criticized by Internet users.

If the country has largely contained the coronavirus epidemic since the spring of 2020 thanks to strict restrictions, small localized foci have erupted in recent weeks.

They pushed the health authorities to carry out massive and rapid PCR screening of tens of thousands of inhabitants.

Samples are usually taken by smear in the nose or throat.

According to public television CCTV, residents of several parts of Beijing were recently subjected to rectal swabs.

The measure is also imposed on people in mandatory quarantine in hotels, especially travelers from abroad.

The virus stays longer in the anus than in the nose

Rectal screening involves inserting a cotton swab soaked in saline solution about two to three centimeters into the anus, explains the US site Bloomberg.

This method "increases the detection rate of infected people" because the coronavirus remains present longer in the anus than in the respiratory tract, doctor Li Tongzeng, of You'an Hospital in Beijing, told CCTV. .

"Rectal screening makes it possible to increase the rate of detection of infected persons, in particular by new variants," said Li Tingzeng, this Friday to France Info.

On the internet, reactions oscillate Wednesday between fear and derision.

“Relieved to have already returned to China!

"Writes a user of the Weibo social network.

"It's not too painful but certainly super humiliating," said another.

A method considered "humiliating" by some Internet users

Some who have had to undergo rectal swabbing rely 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 Weibo user.

CCTV said Sunday that rectal tests were not intended to be generalized because they are "not practical enough".

With a Covid-19 epidemic still raging in many parts of the world, China, which has already severely limited international arrivals since March 2020, has tightened restrictions in recent months.

All people wishing to travel to the country must present two negative Covid tests (PCR and serological) before boarding and carry out on their arrival and at their expense a quarantine of at least 14 days in a hotel - or often more.

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