Online backlash over Chinese expert’s monkeypox prevention warning

Name: WHO declares monkeypox a global health emergency as the agency raises its highest-level alert
Uploaded: 2022-09-18T10:30:07.000Z
Duration: 2 min 12 s
Description: WHO declares monkeypox a global health emergency as the agency raises its highest-level alert

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 Chinese health expert has warned people in the country not to have direct skin contact with foreigners following China’s first report of the case. Photo: AP

William Zheng

Published: 6:30pm, 18 Sep 2022

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].”

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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WHO declares monkeypox a global health emergency as the agency raises its highest-level alert

Wu’s suggestions were ridiculed by many Chinese internet users, with some saying they found them “racist and discriminatory”.