Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying speaks at a daily breifing. (Photo: VCG)

The US government's counter-measures to  the Chinese virus outbreak were too drastic, as it upgraded travel warning to China to the most risky level, said a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson in a statement on Monday.

Several nations have strengthened inspections on Chinese entries and intensified prevention and control work as coronavirus deaths continued to rise in China. We understand and respect those choices, said Hua Chunying at a press briefing.

In order to battle the outbreak, China had taken comprehensive and rigorous prevention and control steps, some of which even surpassed the demands of international sanitation standards. Previously, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had commended China for its efforts and said the WHO was not recommending curbs on travel or trade with China, said Hua.

Yet, to the opposite, the US government ignored WHO's advice and had overreacted to sharply tighten travel curbs since the outbreak, including the latest bans on all nationals who had visited China over the past 14 days. "Those moves escalate panic globally and do nothing useful to help control the spread," said Hua. 

Even American media agencies and experts questioned those moves, saying that  the government is shifting from overconfidence to radical response and its measures contradict WHO proposals. The comprehensive restrictions on nationals perhaps infringe on human rights, and fail to mitigate the outbreak impact.

Hua also noted other nations’ efforts, by quoting Canada Health Minister Patty Hajdu that “Canada is not ready to declare a national emergency over the coronavirus outbreak, as the current evidence doesn't justify such a declaration.”

“We urge relevant countries to look at the epidemic situation calmly and adopt proper curbing measures.” China is willing to shoulder the responsibility, together with WHO and other global communities, to share work development and strengthen cooperation. "We are confident and capable to win the battle against  the coronavirus," said Hua.

(Compiled by Bai Yuanqi)