'Avoid contact with foreigners': Chinese official faces backlash for monkeypox advisory

China's top epidemiologist Wu Zunyou has advised citizens to avoid physical contact with foreigners after the country detected its first monkeypox case.

In addition, he also asked locals to avoid contact with people who have been abroad in the last three weeks as well as all strangers.

Wu's remarks drew massive social media backlash with users on Weibo calling it 'racist, discriminatory and inappropriate'

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

“How racist is this? What about the ones like me who have been living in China for almost 10 years and we haven’t seen our families in like 3-4 years due to the borders being closed,” an user wrote on Weibo in response to a Global Times post about Wu’s recommendations.

Another Weibo user said she found Wu’s description “very inappropriate”.

“There are still so many foreign friends working in China. At the beginning of the epidemic, some foreign friends stood up and used social platforms to tell everyone that ‘Chinese people are not viruses’,” she said.

The user further wrote that Chinese people should not now remain silent when many foreigners are facing discrimination in the country, the Post reported.

Another Weibo user wrote, “Is he (Wu) referring to a sexual relationship or just skin-to-skin contact? I guess he meant the former. But it is inevitable to have handshakes when you meet foreign guests. It’s also hard to avoid skin contact on the bus.”

China on Friday reported its first case of Monkeypox in Chongqing city after a person who arrived from abroad developed rashes while in COVID-19 quarantine.

(With PTI inputs)