China calls on people to avoid contact with foreigners

A recommendation “to prevent monkeypox infection”. Zunyou Wu, a senior representative of the Chinese health services, on Monday (September 19th) recommended that the Chinese population avoid all “direct skin-to-skin contact with strangers”. And this three days after the appearance of the first case of monkeypox in the country, in a person who had recently entered the country and who is still in quarantine.

The chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention also called on people to avoid such contact with people who had been abroad in the previous three weeks, as well as with “strangers”.

He assured that China’s strict anti-Covid policy, with border control and mandatory quarantine upon arrival, has so far prevented the expansion of monkeypox in the territory. He also warned against the risk of leaving cases “pass through the net”.

His post was widely shared on several Chinese social media over the weekend, but the comments section, on the original post, has been disabled. Among those who commented on the screenshots of his message, some shouted at the “discrimination”. Others pointed out that many foreign workers residing in China have been unable to leave the country since the start of anti-Covid restrictions.

Zunyou Wu’s original post on Weibo has since been edited, presumably to counter the controversy. It now only targets “foreigners who have recently (within three weeks) traveled from overseas monkeypox affected areas who may be infected with monkeypox”.