A senior health official in China advised citizens to avoid contact with foreigners to prevent monkeypox infection, after the first known case of the virus was recorded in mainland China, while some saw this statement as discriminatory and unscientific.
"To prevent possible monkeypox infection and as part of our healthy lifestyle, it is first recommended that you do not have contact with directly through the skin with foreigners."
Wu also called on people to avoid such contact with people who have been abroad in the past three weeks, as well as all "strangers", and called for caution.
Opposite reaction
On the other hand, the German news agency said that Wu Cun Yu's warning of "direct percutaneous contact with foreigners" sparked "an immediate violent reaction online, with many seeing these comments as discriminatory and unscientific."
The first known case of monkeypox in China
And the city of Chongqing in southwest China recorded an infection with monkeypox on Friday for a person who arrived from abroad, in the first known infection with the virus in China amid its recent global outbreak.
The CDC later said that the patient was a 29-year-old Chinese citizen, who traveled to Chongqing on September 14 from Spain.
The city's health committee said - in a statement - that the risk of transmission is low, with the infected person being placed in quarantine upon arrival in Chongqing.
All contacts with him were isolated and placed under medical observation.
And since anyone entering China must be quarantined for at least a week, a case of monkeypox was discovered when the patient started showing symptoms while he was in isolation.