Monkeypox – China warns against “skin contact with foreigners”

With this advice, lead epidemiologist Wu Zunyou addressed the people at the Weibo messaging service. The advice sparked strong reactions on the Chinese internet. Users saw discrimination and criticized the information as not very scientific. Nationalist commentator Sima Nan said: “It’s good to open the country, but we can’t let everything in.”

Complaints about fear mongering
“It makes me sick to read words like that,” wrote one user. Others complained of fear mongering. It was recalled how Chinese or other Asians had been discriminated against abroad after the initial outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in central China. A foreign language teacher pointed out that he has lived in China for 12 years, has permanent residency rights and has not left the country for three years because of the pandemic: “What should I make of the first sentence?”

As the health department reported, a case of monkey pox was found at an “international arrival” in Chongqing. It was not said whether he was a Chinese citizen or a foreigner. However, due to the Covid 19 pandemic, China is issuing extremely few visas. Because all travelers entering China must be quarantined for at least a week, the disease was diagnosed in isolation when the person showed symptoms.

The transmission options
The virus is transmitted through direct contact of the skin or mucous membranes with body fluids or the typical skin changes. According to analyses, about 95 percent of those infected were infected during sexual activity during the current outbreak, especially affecting men who had sex with men.