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Online backlash over Chinese expert’s monkeypox prevention warning
- Top epidemiologist suggests avoiding direct skin contact with foreigners or overseas returnees after China reports its first case
- Internet users ridicule the advice, describing it as vague and inappropriate
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A top Chinese epidemiologist is facing a backlash online for his monkeypox prevention warning against having “direct skin-to-skin contact” with foreigners or recent returnees from overseas.
The suggestion from Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, came a day after mainland China confirmed its first case of the disease. The patient had flown to the southwestern municipality of Chongqing from overseas and developed symptoms, including a rash, while in quarantine for Covid-19.
In a verified Weibo post on Saturday, Wu suggested: “To prevent possible monkeypox infection, and as part of our daily healthy lifestyle, [I] advise 1) don’t have skin-to-skin contact with foreigners; 2) don’t have skin-to-skin contact with people who have returned from abroad [in the past three weeks].”
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He also advised the public not to have skin-to-skin contact with strangers and to use disposable toilet seat covers in public facilities, including in hotels.
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Wu’s suggestions were ridiculed by many Chinese internet users, with some saying they found them “racist and discriminatory”.
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