China makes COVID-19 anal swab tests mandatory for foreigners

The Chinese government is now mandating that foreign travelers take an anal swab COVID-19 test before entering the country, The Times of UK reports.

The swab tests were earlier used on American diplomats in China in an “error,” according to the State Department.

“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 late last month.

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

The U.S. government and others, like the Japanese government, have complained that the test is “undignified.”