China’s monkeypox advisory warns its citizens not to touch foreigners

 

The Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned its citizens not to touch foreigners after China reported its first monkeypox virus case.

China’s first monkeypox case was detected on Friday in the southwestern city of Chongqing in an individual who arrived abroad. Local authorities said that the transmission risk of the virus was low as the individual was put in quarantine upon arrival in Chongqing as per China’s Covid-19 protocol. The Chinese authorities also said that all the traveller’s close contacts were isolated and under medical observation.

The traveller suffered from a rash and other symptoms while being quarantined in line with COVID-19 controls in China. The monkeypox case was confirmed after the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention reviewed the test results of the traveller. Subsequently, China’s CDC, affiliated with the national health commission (NHC), China’s health ministry, published five recommendations for Chinese citizens to follow to prevent the spread of the monkeypox virus.

Wu Zunyou, CDC’s chief epidemiologist, published the recommendations on China’s social media platform, Weibo, on Saturday. The first piece of advice the CDC’s chief gave was “Do not have skin-to-skin contact with foreigners.” Wu also urged people not to have “contact” with people who recently returned from abroad for at least three weeks.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global health emergency over the monkeypox outbreak in more than 90 countries. The monkeypox virus has been spreading mainly in men who have sex with other men. It causes rashes on the skin and private parts of the body.

According to the CDC, more than 60,000 confirmed cases have been reported so far globally. Deaths from non-endemic countries have also been reported amid the outbreak.

China also reported around 1,000 new local Covid-19 cases a day over the past week. The Chongqing case comes amid the Covid-19 outbreak.