Chinese official warns against touching foreigners after monkeypox case
A top Chinese health official has warned locals against touching foreigners, a day after China recorded its first monkeypox infection.
In a post on Weibo, the chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Wu Zunyou advised against "skin-to-skin contact with foreigners".
The post drew controversy, with some labelling it as racist.
Comments on the original post have since been disabled from the platform.
"In order to prevent possible monkeypox infection and as part of our healthy lifestyle, it is recommended that 1) you do not have direct skin-to-skin contact with foreigners," said Mr Wu on his Weibo page on Saturday.
In addition, Mr Wu also called for locals to avoid skin-to-skin contact with recent travellers who had returned from abroad in the last three weeks, and with strangers.
He posted the comments a day after the southwestern city of Chongqing reported its first case of monkeypox in an individual who arrived from abroad. It is not clear if the individual was a Chinese citizen or a foreigner.
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