Controversy has been evoked over reports of US diplomats in China allegedly being subjected to anal swab testing for COVID-19 by local authorities.
The claims were first aired by Vice News citing grievances by US diplomats who have been subjected to anal swab tests
“The State Department never agreed to this kind of testing and protested directly to [China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs] when we learned that some staff were subject to it,” a state department spokesperson told CNN in a statement on Thursday.
Reacting to the reports, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs through Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said it was not aware of US diplomats in the Asian country being subjected to the swab testing.
“As far as I know, and I have also checked with my colleagues, China has never asked US diplomats in China to take anal swab tests,” Lijian told journalists on Thursday.
Chinese scientists in the recent past said that anal testing for COVID-19 is more accurate.
Still on matters COVID-19, Kenya’s Ministry of Health has said that the first consignment of COVID-19 vaccines will arrive in the country next week.
Dr Mercy Mwangangi, the Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) in the Ministry of Health assured Kenyans that frontline health workers with get the vaccine as soon as it arrives.
“It is just a matter of time before Kenya gets the vaccines. The delivery in Ghana a clear indication that the Covax facility has started distributing the drugs. Our consignment is on the way,” Dr Mwangangi said.
Earlier, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe had said that a shipment of 24 million doses of UK’s AstraZeneca vaccine would arrive in the country by February.
However, this is yet to happen.
