Beijing bans coughing and sneezing without covering the mouth to boost public hygiene amid coronavirus pandemic
Beijing has banned 'uncivilized' behavior like not covering mouth and nose while coughing or sneezing, the city government revealed.
These new rules and regulations are part of an attempt to improve public hygiene amid the coronavirus pandemic. The laws have claimed to help promote 'civilized behavior' amongst citizens and relate to fighting off the coronavirus pandemic that has infected more than 82,000 people in China alone.
People who are found not following the new set of rules will be fined for offenses such as not wearing a mask in public when unwell, the municipal government announced on its website. The laws also need public places to set up one-meter distance markers, Daily Mail reports.
They also announced the need to provide communal chopsticks and spoons for shared meals. Citizens also need to be well dressed and cannot be shirtless. This seemed to be a reference to the 'Beijing Bikini' where men roll their t-shirts up to expose their stomachs when it is too hot.
The rules mean a 'total ban' of the practice in public spaces. People will also be required to sort out their rubbish and if they don't, will be fined up to $70.64 (500 yuan). The laws are also encouraging police to report serious offenses that could well affect a person's social credit score- a system that aims to assess an individual's actions across society.
For a while now, Beijing has prohibited many 'uncivilized' behaviors that include public spitting, littering, walking dogs unleashed, public defecation, and smoking in non-smoking zones.
The latest rules were passed on Friday, April 24, and highlight the new punishments. Fines for spitting, littering, and defecation in public was raised to $28 (200 yuan) from $7.07 (50 yuan). Earlier, these rules and regulations had been enforced in an unorganized manner.
Beijing has denied permission for American scientists to visit the Wuhan Institute of Virology or any other part of China to investigate the origin of the virus. According to the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo who spoke to Fox News, "Even today, the Chinese government hasn't permitted American scientists to go into China, to go into not only the Wuhan lab but wherever it needs to go to learn about this virus, to learn about its origins."
"'Look, we know it began at one, but we need to figure this out. There's an ongoing pandemic. We still don't have the transparency and openness we need in China. It is the World Health Organisation's (WHO) responsibility to achieve that transparency. They''re not doing it. They need to be held accountable," Pompeo shared.
He further added that it has been "great to see other countries around the world to begin to recognize the WHO failures as well." He shared that WHO needs structural changes that include its chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stepping down.
"Or even more than that. It may be the case that the United States can never return to underwriting, having U.S. taxpayer dollars go to the WHO. We may need to have an even bolder change than that," Pompeo added.
It was just last week that POTUS Donald Trump announced that the USA will be stopping their funding for WHO and said that the organization had given importance to "political correctness over lifesaving measures."