A Chinese health official has advised people to avoid physical contact with foreigners to avoid possible monkeypox infection after the first known case of the virus in mainland China was reported on Friday.
“To prevent possible monkeypox infection and as part of our healthy lifestyle, it is recommended that 1) you do not have direct contact with foreigners,” posted Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at China on its official Weibo page on Saturday.
Wu also urged people to avoid “skin-to-skin contact” with people who have been abroad in the last three weeks, as well as all “strangers”.
“It is necessary and very important to strengthen surveillance and prevention of the monkeypox epidemic at the social level,” he wrote.
His post was widely shared on social media over the weekend, but the comments section on his initial post was shut down on Sunday and in the early hours of Monday in Beijing.
Some, who commented on the forwarded or screenshot versions of his post, questioned why foreigners in China, many of whom are long-term residents and have not recently left due to Covid-19 barriers, were considered more dangerous than foreigners. locations.
Wu did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment sent to his social media account.
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