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Monkeypox: China warns against "skin contact with foreigners"

2022-09-19T01:19:38.620Z


So far, there has officially been no monkeypox in China - also as a result of the strict Covid rules. However, the first illness in the country was reported over the weekend. The government's recommendations are drastic.


Enlarge image

People in hazmat suits at the quarantined Communication University of China (on September 12)

Photo: Andy Wong/AP

China continues to pursue a draconian Covid policy.

Megacities are quarantined as soon as an infection with the corona virus is reported.

Travelers have to put up with long quarantines if they want to enter the country.

A side effect of these strict requirements may have been that, according to official reports, no case of monkeypox has been reported in China.

This has changed since this weekend.

The virus was found in the southwest of the People's Republic, in the Chongqing region.

According to the authorities, the person concerned had entered the country from abroad and was under Covid quarantine when the infection was determined.

So far it has remained unclear whether it is a foreigner or a Chinese person.

The government's reaction at least suggests that it is likely to be about a foreigner.

After the case became known, the chief virologist of the Chinese Center for Disease Control turned to the public.

Wu Zunyou wrote on the Twitter-like online service Weibo that "a case slipped through the net."

The prevention of further infections must now be the priority, according to the virologist.

According to the US broadcaster CNN, he issued five rules that the population should follow.

The first requirement is: »Avoid any skin contact with foreigners.« On Weibo, this extremely general rule was criticized by many users.

This would potentially discriminate against foreigners, users wrote.

Some referred to resentment towards Chinese abroad after the start of the corona pandemic.

Since early May, more than 47,600 confirmed cases have been reported in 90 countries where monkeypox is not endemic.

The WHO declared the outbreak of the disease a global health emergency in July and thus declared the highest alert level.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the outbreak of monkeypox in Europe can be stopped.

There are encouraging signs that the number of cases in many European countries, including France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and the UK, is declining week by week, the WHO said in late August.

Change in behavior observed

Catherine Smallwood, head of the Monkeypox Unit at the WHO Regional Office for Europe, identified what are believed to be the most important factors behind the observed slowdown.

On the one hand, infections would be diagnosed more quickly, so that those affected could isolate themselves.

On the other hand, there are changes in behavior.

There is evidence that people - especially men who have sex with men and belong to certain risk groups - are well informed about the disease.

In Germany, 3,455 cases have been reported to the Robert Koch Institute since May (as of August 30).

The number of cases reported weekly has declined slightly since the beginning of August 2022, the institute reported.

»However, this overall trend results from individual local trends, which are still very different.

It is therefore necessary to wait and see whether the decline in the number of cases will continue, «restricted the RKI.

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Source: spiegel

All tech articles on 2022-09-19

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