Wang Xi Experiences Nosebleed After PCR At Taiwan Airport
Warning: Some readers may find the photos in this article graphic. Discretion is advised.
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When the Covid-19 pandemic started, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests unfortunately became a fact of life, especially when travelling.
Most who’ve done it have reported feeling uncomfortable, even tough stars like Michelle Yeoh.
But Hong Kong actor Wang Xi might be the first to report a particularly horrific side effect — a nose that bled out alarmingly.
Worse still, the medical staff who administered the PCR test allegedly disappeared, and nobody could tell him who she was.
Wang Xi took PCR after landing in Taiwan
In a Facebook post at 7.38pm on Sunday (3 Aug), Wang said he’d landed at Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport that evening.
As part of the health protocol for arrivals, he had to submit to a PCR test.
He said it was administered at Gate B9 by a female medical staff about 1.5m tall and wearing full white Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
Staff poked him while holding his head
The medical staff poked his right nostril with a cotton swab in her right hand, Wang said.
She also used her left hand to push his head forward. As he felt pain, he pushed his head back, which prompted her to tell him to bear with it.
She tried again, assuring him that she won’t hurt him – and proceeded to poke his nostril again while pushing his head with her left hand.
This caused his nose to bleed copiously, staining his white mask. There was so much blood that it had started collecting in his mask.
Staff allegedly left scene
After this happened, the medical staff left the scene, Wang claimed. Nobody there could tell him who she was and where she went either.
They only could reveal that she was from the hospital.
If that wasn’t bad enough, at 7.55pm, he said he received worse news: He’d tested positive.
Police allegedly ask him to check Internet
Wang posted again at 8.24pm, saying the police had arrived and spoken with him across a glass barrier.
They told him he could check out “1922” on the Internet – the hotline for the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control – to find out who the medical staff was.
They also allegedly told him that they won’t record down the incident.
Wang also noted that there were CCTV cameras in the area where he was tested, but it seemed like they were pointed at too high a spot to have captured what happened.
The bleeding stopped at 9.27pm
In a subsequent post at 9.27pm, Wang said that his nose bad finally stopped bleeding.
However, given that he said he was tested at 7 plus, that means his nose bled for about 2 hours.
At 9.53pm, he said he’d been moved to the tarmac area to get some air.
In a video later, he grumbled about having to wait to be transported to accommodation even though the bus, luggage and passengers were all present.
He then claimed that at 10.21pm, he was still on the tarmac, though he posted a photo indicating he was already on the bus.
Wang Xi refused help from medical staff after PCR experience
In the meantime, a spokesman from Taiwan’s pandemic control centre confirmed to media outlets like ETtoday that the nosebleed incident had happened.
He also said that some medical personnel had tried to assist Wang by offering to help him stop the bleeding and change his mask, but the actor had refused.
To that, Wang replied in another post that a female medical staff had handed him toilet paper that was about 3m long, wadded up into a ball — meant to stop his bleeding.
However, “common sense told him to refuse”, he said.
Speaking directly to the spokesman, he asked him whether he could identify the medical personnel who poked him instead.
In a post after midnight, after reaching his accommodation, Wang shared a photo of his bloodied face. It carried the caption, “Blame the victim”.
A traumatic experience
PCR tests are definitely not fun to do, that’s why nobody wants to do them.
A nosebleed, however, isn’t something that should ordinarily happen by any means, so Wang’s experience definitely seemed traumatic.
Thus, it’s not surprising that he wants answers, and we hope the Taiwanese authorities will give him some soon.
Hopefully his nose will be alright, and he has a speedy recovery from Covid-19.
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Featured images adapted from WONG HE 王喜 on Facebook.
