"'Avoid Contact with Foreigners,' China: How Is This Different from COVID-19 Asian Discrimination?"

Controversy Over Wu Zunyu, Chief Epidemiologist at China CDC
One Day After First Monkeypox Case Reported in China

A Chinese infectious disease authority has sparked controversy by advising against skin contact with foreigners to prevent the possibility of monkeypox infection. The photo shows a monkeypox vaccine. Photo by AP News Agency

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Juri] A Chinese infectious disease authority has sparked controversy by advising people to avoid contact with foreigners due to concerns about monkeypox infection.

According to US CNN and other outlets on the 18th, Wu Zunyu, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, posted on China's Weibo on the 17th, the day after the first monkeypox case was reported in the country, saying, "To prevent the possibility of monkeypox infection and protect our healthy daily lives, 1. Do not have skin contact with foreigners, 2. Do not have skin contact with those who have returned from overseas in the past three weeks."

Wu also urged caution against all strangers and advised avoiding skin contact with people who have traveled abroad in the last three weeks.

Some supported his post, saying, "We should not let everything enter the country unchecked." Opponents condemned Wu's guidelines as racist, arguing that "it is no different from the discrimination and violence Asians faced overseas during the early COVID-19 pandemic."

The Chinese state-run Global Times reported that while experts say there is little risk of a large-scale monkeypox outbreak, some experts are calling for "thorough vigilance."

Wu Zunyu also stated, "Due to the similarity between the monkeypox and smallpox viruses, those vaccinated against smallpox have immunity to monkeypox," adding, "Since China conducted nationwide smallpox vaccinations until the World Health Organization (WHO) declared smallpox eradicated in 1980, Chinese people over 42 years old are considered safe from monkeypox."

Meanwhile, on the 16th, Chongqing quarantine authorities in China announced that a resident who had recently entered from overseas and was in quarantine for COVID-19 prevention showed symptoms such as rash and was tested positive for monkeypox.

Previously, a 30-year-old resident who traveled to Canada, the US, and the Philippines via Hong Kong on the 6th was confirmed to have monkeypox, but this is the first confirmed case on the Chinese mainland.