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Covid-19:the anal test could better detect the different Omicron and BA.2 variants

The nasal test , whether antigenic, PCR or self-test, is now part of our daily lives. Vaccinated or not, many French people take part in the test every day, which determines whether or not they are infected with Covid-19 . But to more accurately detect the different variants so-called "stealth", is it enough?

Detecting Covid-19 variants:towards an anal test?

When a colleague or friend tells us that he is positive and that we have been in contact with him, we systematically go to the pharmacy to do an antigen test . But, did you know that in China, theanal test is privileged? Indeed, the country applies a “zero Covid policy. but a potential Omicron cluster has been detected in Beijing. To avoid this, anal tests have been deployed. The latter are known to be particularly precise. They were therefore administered to 27 people who lived in the building of an infected woman, the first case of Omicron in the city. If this type of test is controversial, the Chinese authorities do not hesitate to bring it out in the event of a potential new cluster. It seems that anal testing are more effective in detecting asymptomatic or mild forms of Covid-19.

Will the anal test be used in all countries?

Doctor Li Tongzeng , from You'an Hospital in Beijing explains “After three to five days, it is possible that asymptomatic people will no longer have traces of the virus in the throat. In some infected patients, the coronavirus survives longer in their digestive tract or in their feces than in their respiratory tract."

If the anal test is increasingly used by the Chinese, it will also be made available to people arriving from abroad. However, foreign governments oppose it. We will therefore continue to use the nasal test , for now.