FEBRUARY 3
China's Foreign Ministry has just accused the US of overreacting to the virus outbreak
A spokeswoman for China's Foreign Ministry castigated the United States for its response to the coronavirus outbreak, accusing Washington of responding inappropriately and feeding mass hysteria.
"Most countries appreciate and support China’s efforts to fight against the novelcoronavirus, and we understand and respect them when they adopt or enhance quarantine measures at border entry. But in the meantime, some countries, the US in particular, have inappropriately overreacted, which certainly runs counter to WHO advice," Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.
She continued:
The US government hasn’t provided any substantial assistance to us, but it was the first to evacuate personnel from its consulate in Wuhan, the first to suggest partial withdrawal of its Embassy staff, and the first to impose a travel ban on Chinese travelers. All it has done could only create and spread fear, which is a bad example.
Even American media and experts doubted the government’s decision, saying that the US government’s restrictions on China are precisely what the WHO rejects, that the US is turning from overconfidence to fear and overreaction, and that banning the entry of foreigners who traveled to China in the past 14 days is suspected to be violating civil rights instead of reducing risk of virus spreading
in fact, according to a recent CDC report, the US flu from 2019 to 2020 has caused 19 million infection cases and at least 10,000 deaths. By contrast, by February 2, 17,205 cases of nCoV pneumonia were confirmed, 361 died and 475 cured and discharged, while there are only 11 confirmed cases in the US.
The contrast is thought-provoking. I also noted that the Canadian Minister of Health said Canada won’t follow the US and impose travel restrictions on Chinese or foreign nationals who have been to China. Canada believe the ban of entry has no basis, which is a sharp contrast to the US behaviors
- Steven Jiang, CNN