<p>Some Chinese cities are using samples taken from the anus to detect potential Covid-19 infections as China steps up screening to make sure no potential carrier of the new coronavirus is missed amid regional outbreaks and ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays.</p>.<p>A throat swab on a 52-year-old man in Weinan, a city in northern Shaanxi province, showed negative result after the person showed symptoms such as coughing and appetite loss, a city official said on Wednesday, but he tested positive using nose and anal swabs.</p>.<p>The person, who had been put in a centralised facility for medical observation as a close contact of another carrier earlier this month, was then confirmed as a Covid-19 patient, the official told a news conference.<br /><br /><strong>Read:<a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/india-has-plenty-of-coronavirus-vaccines-but-few-takers-944184.html" target="_blank"> India has plenty of coronavirus vaccines but few takers</a></strong></p>.<p>Anal swabs require inserting a cotton swab 3 to 5 centimetres (1.2 to 2.0 inch) into the anus and gently rotating it. Last week, a Beijing city official said that anal swabs were taken from over 1,000 teachers, staffers and students at a primary school in the city after an infection had been found. Their nose and throat swabs and serum samples were also collected for testing.</p>.<p>Additional tests using anal swabs can avoid missing infections, as virus traces in faecal samples or anal swabs could remain detectable for a longer time than in samples taken from upper respiratory tract, Li Tongzeng, a respiratory and infectious disease doctor in Beijing city, told state TV last week. He added that such samples are only necessarily for key groups such as those under quarantine.</p>.<p>Stool tests may be more effective than respiratory tests in identifying Covid-19 infections in children and infants since they carry a higher viral load in their stool than adults, researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) had said in a paper published last year.</p>
<p>Some Chinese cities are using samples taken from the anus to detect potential Covid-19 infections as China steps up screening to make sure no potential carrier of the new coronavirus is missed amid regional outbreaks and ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays.</p>.<p>A throat swab on a 52-year-old man in Weinan, a city in northern Shaanxi province, showed negative result after the person showed symptoms such as coughing and appetite loss, a city official said on Wednesday, but he tested positive using nose and anal swabs.</p>.<p>The person, who had been put in a centralised facility for medical observation as a close contact of another carrier earlier this month, was then confirmed as a Covid-19 patient, the official told a news conference.<br /><br /><strong>Read:<a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/india-has-plenty-of-coronavirus-vaccines-but-few-takers-944184.html" target="_blank"> India has plenty of coronavirus vaccines but few takers</a></strong></p>.<p>Anal swabs require inserting a cotton swab 3 to 5 centimetres (1.2 to 2.0 inch) into the anus and gently rotating it. Last week, a Beijing city official said that anal swabs were taken from over 1,000 teachers, staffers and students at a primary school in the city after an infection had been found. Their nose and throat swabs and serum samples were also collected for testing.</p>.<p>Additional tests using anal swabs can avoid missing infections, as virus traces in faecal samples or anal swabs could remain detectable for a longer time than in samples taken from upper respiratory tract, Li Tongzeng, a respiratory and infectious disease doctor in Beijing city, told state TV last week. He added that such samples are only necessarily for key groups such as those under quarantine.</p>.<p>Stool tests may be more effective than respiratory tests in identifying Covid-19 infections in children and infants since they carry a higher viral load in their stool than adults, researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) had said in a paper published last year.</p>