BEIJING: A senior Chinese wellness official advised people to avoid physical contact with foreigners to prevent possible monkeypox infection following the very first known case of the virus on landmass China was reported upon Friday (Sep 16).
“To prevent possible monkeypox infection and as section of our healthy lifestyle, it is recommended that 1) you do not have direct skin-to-skin contact with foreigners, ” Wu Zunyou, key epidemiologist at the The far east Center for Condition Control and Prevention posted on his public Weibo page on Saturday.
Wu also called for people to prevent “skin-to-skin contact” with people who have been abroad within the past three days as well as all “strangers”, as he cautioned vigilance.
“It is necessary and very important to reinforce the surveillance plus prevention of monkeypox epidemic at the social level, ” he wrote.
His post was widely shared across social media over the weekend, but the comments section under their initial post had been disabled on Sunday and in the early hrs of Monday in Beijing.
Several, who commented on forwarded or screenshot versions of his post, questioned the reason why foreigners in China, many of whom are usually long-term residents and have not left lately due to COVID-19 obstacles, were considered a lot more dangerous than locals.
Wu did not immediately respond to the Reuters request for discuss this sent to their social media account on Monday.
The southwestern city of Chongqing recorded a monkeypox virus infection on Friday in an individual who arrived from overseas, marking mainland China’s first known monkeypox infection amid the recent global outbreak of the virus.
The transmission risk is low since the individual was put in quarantine upon appearance in Chongqing, the municipal health percentage said in a declaration. All close connections were isolated and put under medical observation.
Around 90 countries where monkeypox is not endemic have reported outbreaks from the viral disease, that the World Health Corporation has declared a worldwide health emergency. There have been more than 60, 000 confirmed cases plus some non-endemic countries have reported their initial related deaths.