‘Psychological pain’: Japan urged China to stop testing domestic travelers for COVID-19 anal swabs

Tokyo has called on China to stop having anal swab tests for COVID-19 from Japanese citizens because the procedure causes psychological pain, a government spokesperson said on Monday.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said the government had not received a response on whether the Asian giant would change the review process, so Japan will continue to ask China to change the way it conducts testing.

“Some Japanese have informed our embassy in China that have had anal swab tests, which can cause great psychological pain“Kato said at a press conference.

It is not known how many Japanese citizens have received such tests for the coronavirus, he added.

Some Chinese cities use samples taken from the anus to detect potential COVID-19 infections, at a time when China is doubling its tests to ensure that no potential carriers of the coronavirus are overlooked.

Tests using anal swabs can prevent infection by traces of virus in stool samples or anal swabs may remain detectable longer than in the respiratory tractLi Tongzeng, a respiratory doctor in Beijing, said on public television last month.

Stool tests too may be more effective at detecting infections in children and babiesas their waste has a higher viral load than adults, researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong said in an article published last year.

Another international incident

China’s Foreign Ministry denied last month that U.S. diplomats in the country were required to undergo anal swab testing for COVID-19, following media reports that some complained about the process .

American media Vice he cited a State Department official who allegedly said the test was carried out in error and that China had indicated that such tests would be suspended from U.S. diplomats.

A spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry replied, “To my knowledge … China has never asked US diplomatic personnel deployed in China to perform anal swab testing.”

In an e-mail to Reuters, a State Department official said he was “determined to ensure the safety of US diplomats and their families, while preserving their dignity.”

(With information from Reuters)

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