Official says China gave US diplomats anal coronavirus swabs 'in error' as CCP claims no such tests happened

The Chinese Communist Party vowed to stop using anal swabs to test for the coronavirus on officials from the United States, according to the State Department, but a Chinese ministry spokesman later denied that the tests occurred.

“The State Department never agreed to this kind of testing and protested directly to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when we learned that some staff were subject to it,” a State Department spokesperson told VICE World News on Wednesday.

“We have instructed staff to decline this test if it is asked of them, as was done in the past,” the spokesperson said.

Chinese Communist Party officials told U.S. officials the tests were given “in error” and that diplomats are exempt from the required practice used on travelers visiting some areas of the country. 

 We have received assurances from [the ministry] that this was in error and that diplomatic personnel are exempt from this testing requirement," the statement added.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, denied that any U.S. diplomats were subject to the tests.

"As far as I know, and I have also checked with my colleagues, China has never asked U.S. diplomats in China to take anal swab tests," spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters on Thursday. 

Receiving an anal swab test typically entails inserting a cotton swab about 2 inches into the rectum and rotating. It is unclear if the test is more efficient at detecting the virus than the traditional test of swabbing a person’s throat or nose.  

Washington complained that the practice was “undignified” and Beijing responded, claiming the tests were given “in error” and promised that diplomatic personnel would be exempt from the practice, the spokesman told Vice.

“We have instructed staff to decline this test if it is asked of them, as was done in the past,” the spokesman added. 

It is unclear how many American diplomats and their families were subjected to the practice. 

 

Source: Washington Examiner and RT News