A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman said the United States “is transitioning from overconfidence to panic and overreaction” by issuing restrictions on travel to China.
Hua Chunying from the Chinese foreign ministry told reporters Monday that the measures to restrict entry to the U.S. by foreign nationals and the State Department’s warning against travel to China were responsible for “creating and spreading panic” about the virus globally.
“The U.S. government has not provided any substantial assistance to China so far, but it was the first to withdraw its consular staff from Wuhan, the first to withdraw some of its embassy staff, and the first to announce comprehensive restrictions on the entry of Chinese citizens,” Hua said.
The steps the U.S. had taken, she said, ran counter to recommendations made by the World Health Organization Emergency Committee, whose members said restricting international travel would not be an effective way to prevent the virus from spreading. The Trump administration’s coronavirus task force announced restrictions on travel and entry to the U.S. on Jan. 31 after WHO declared the coronavirus an international public health emergency. Before the WHO declaration on Jan. 30, though, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin had already ordered Russia’s 2,670-mile far-east border with China to be shut down and tour groups from China to be turned away.
Hua said the efforts to prevent further spread of the virus, including quarantining recent arrivals from China to the U.S. and withdrawing embassy staff are “overreaction measures.”
Over 360 people in China have died from the virus. Chinese officials announced that the number of cases has surpassed 17,000, although researchers in Hong Kong estimate that the actual number of cases in China could be closer to 76,000. So far, 11 cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed in the U.S.
[Read more: True China coronavirus cases number could be 10 times official figure: Study]
