The Chinese government has slammed the US’ decision to ban people who have been in China for the last two weeks from travelling into the country from China in order to stop the coronavirus disease from spreading .
Following the coronavirus outbreak worldwide, which the World Health Organization has labelled a global emergency, as the disease has already killed 259 people in China, infected thousands world wide, with 8 cases already recorded in the US, Trump’s administration on Friday decided to ban all flights from China to the country till the disease goes away.
On Friday the U.S. declared a public health emergency and President Trump signed an order blocking the entry of foreign nationals who are not the immediate family of American citizens or permanent residents, if they have visited China within the last 14 days.
But China has slammed the US’ decision even though Australia announced similar measures, while the WHO warned countries to be prepared against an outbreak.
“Certain US officials’ words and actions are neither factual nor appropriate,” China’s foreign affairs ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said in a statement.
“Just as the WHO recommended against travel restrictions, the US rushed to go in the opposite way. Certainly not a gesture of goodwill.”
Just after the WHO declared the epidermic as a global health emergency, WHO representative in Beijing, Gauden Galea said to The Associated Press:
“Countries need to get ready for possible importation in order to identify cases as early as possible and in order to be ready for a domestic outbreak control, if that happens,”
The number of confirmed cases in China has risen to 11,791, surpassing the number in the 2002-03 outbreak of SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.