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. 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. 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. 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.

Source: bd News24 January 27, 2021 14:15 UTC