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Coronavirus: China defends decision to impose control measures on South Korean, Japanese visitors
- ‘As long as the measures are scientific, professional and moderate, everybody should be able to understand,’ foreign ministry spokesman says
- But experts say ban is unlikely to stop the deadly outbreak becoming a pandemic
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Beijing has defended the decision to introduce control measures for some foreign visitors as it continues to battle the coronavirus outbreak, but public health experts have said the move is unlikely to buy much time as fears grow the epidemic may soon become a pandemic.
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Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Wednesday that the measures were necessary and had been designed to “protect the health and safety of Chinese and foreign citizens, and ensure regional and global public health security”.
“As long as the measures are scientific, professional and moderate, everybody should be able to understand,” he told a press conference in Beijing.
“China would like to conduct precautionary measures with the South Korean and Japanese sides to enhance border controls for all and reduce unnecessary travel,” he said, adding that Beijing was grateful for the support it had already received from the two countries and was keen to help them battle the deadly outbreak.
Zhao was speaking as the number of confirmed infections in South Korea rose by 284 on Wednesday, taking the total in the country to 1,261.
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