One of the top officials in China’s epidemic prevention measures advised against touching foreigners as a way to prevent monkeypox infections.
In a message posted Sunday on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, the chief epidemiologist of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Wu Zunyou, gave five recommendations to the public, the first of which was: “Have no fur – direct contact with foreigners”.
“It is necessary and important to strengthen monitoring and prevention against monkeypox,” Wu said.
The epidemiologist pointed out that the strict border controls adopted to prevent outbreaks of Covid-19 also prevented the spread of smallpox, until a case was registered in the Chongqing municipality in southwestern China last week.
This is a passenger from abroad, who was complying with mandatory quarantine, due to preventive measures against Covid-19. The authorities did not specify, however, whether he is a Chinese citizen or a foreigner.
The recommendation sparked controversy on Weibo. Some netizens called Wu’s advice “reasonable.” Others expressed relief that they didn’t know many foreigners: “It’s good to open the doors of the country, but we can’t let everything in,” one user wrote.
Others criticized Wu’s message for being discriminatory, drawing parallels to the xenophobia and violence faced by Asians abroad at the start of the covid-19 pandemic.
“It’s a bit like when the pandemic started, when some people abroad avoided getting close to the Chinese,” wrote one netizen. “I don’t think there is a scientific basis for this kind of advice. It’s too broad and it exacerbates panic among the public,” he noted.
Others pointed out that there were many foreign workers and long-term residents in China who would not have left the country recently and thus would not be more likely to be infected than Chinese citizens.
Weibo disabled comments on the original post posted by Wu.
A Chinese infectious disease expert, quoted by the Yicai economic news portal, said today that “it is not necessary to reject all foreigners or immigrants, since most people are not susceptible to monkeypox.”
In the last week, 3,400 new cases of monkeypox were confirmed worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, which declared an international emergency last July.
Monkeypox is a rare infectious disease that spreads between species, including from animals to humans.
Source: TSF
