China tests 2 million for COVID before Olympics

Authorities in China are testing millions of people for COVID-19 as less than two weeks remain before the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing. 

Anyone in the capital city who has bought cough, fever or other medicines over the last 14 days are required to take a COVID test within 72 hours. All 2 million residents of Beijing's Fengtai district are also being tested. People who are positive for the virus will be sent to an "isolation center or a hospital," the Associated Press reports.

The extensive testing measures were announced due to several dozen COVID cases in Beijing.

China has welcomed more than 3,000 people for the Olympic Games since Jan. 4, and 78 of them have tested positive for the virus so far, according to AP.

Authorities in the Communist regime have reportedly brought back "anal swabs" to test for the virus, Chinese newspaper The Beijing News reported last week.

Data from the World Health Organization shows that the Chinese government has reported that only one person has died from COVID this month, as well as one person in December and another in November. 

China has reported more than 1,300 new confirmed cases over the past seven days. This stands in sharp contrast to the United States, which has reported more than 4.6 million new confirmed cases to the WHO over the past week. 

China, the birthplace of the pandemic, has long been criticized for severely underreporting COVID-19 infections.