A Chinese health official has advised residents to stay away from foreigners to prevent the spread of monkeypox infection after the country discovered its first known case of the virus.
What happened: Wu ZunyouChief Epidemiologist at the China Center for Disease Control and Preventionsaid on his official Weibo page that people should avoid “skin contact with foreigners.”
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“To prevent possible monkeypox infection and as part of our healthy lifestyle, it is recommended not to have direct skin contact with foreigners,” Wu posted on Weibo on Saturday. Reuters reported.
While urging vigilance, Wu also urged citizens to avoid such contact with people who have been abroad in the past three weeks and all “strangers.”
The chief epidemiologist’s post was widely circulated on social media in mainland China over the weekend, drawing massive backlash. Wu also had to disable the comments section under his first post on Sunday.
Meanwhile, China’s southwestern city of Chongqing recorded the country’s first monkeypox virus infection on Friday. The infected person is a 29-year-old Chinese who returned from Spain a few days ago.
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