Chinese authorities have used coronavirus tests based on anal tampons, as the country reports an increase in COVID-19 cases.
The tests are usually reserved by health professionals for high-risk cases, such as those at quarantine sites, according to several reports citing the state-run CCTV channel.
However, the method was also used by a group of schoolchildren and teachers in Beijing last week, according to several reports. Neck and nose pads were used in the group.
Nose and anal tampons were also taken from a group of passengers on a flight from Changchun, China, to Beijing on Monday.
Other travelers arriving in Beijing were asked to use anal tampons. A woman, who was not identified by name, was asked to use an anal tampon in a mandatory quarantine at the Beijing hotel, along with several nose and throat tests and a blood test, Bloomberg News reported.
The test may involve inserting a buffer about one centimeter into the rectum to collect a sample.
Some Chinese doctors have claimed that patients recovering from COVID-19 continued to test positive in samples from the lower digestive tract, even after the nasal and throat swabs were negative, according to several reports.
But other doctors say the inconvenience of the test could prove to be a barrier for patients.
“If we add anal tampon tests, it can increase the identification rate of infected patients,” Li Tongzeng, an infectious disease specialist at Beijing You’an Hospital, said this week. “But, of course, given that collecting anal tampons is not as convenient as neck pads, at this time only key groups, such as those in quarantine, receive both.”
China has seen an increase in cases recently confirmed of COVID-19 across the country this month after it largely contained the virus for several months last year. Officials have urged residents not to travel in an effort to stop the virus from spreading before the February Lunar New Year.