A Communist Party of China spokesman sparked backlash after he said in a tweet Saturday that “some people” should be “injected” with disinfectant “or at least gargle with it” so “they won’t spread the virus, lies and hatred when talking.”

“Mr. President is right. Some people do need to be injected with #disinfectant, or at least gargle with it. That way they won’t spread the virus, lies and hatred when talking,” Hu Zhaoming wrote on Twitter.

Zhaoming, a spokesman for China’s ruling Communist Party, was referring to President Donald Trump’s riff on Thursday about whether it would be possible for doctors to fight coronavirus by injecting a disinfectant into patients.

Zhaoming’s tweet quickly sparked backlash on Twitter.

“This is an actual Chinese Communist Party spokesman calling for Americans to die. Shameful,” wrote Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin.

Isaac Stone Fish, another Washington Post columnist, described Zhaoming’s tweet as an “aggressive and violent statement from a Chinese Communist Party spokesman.”

“OK, Chinese party state doesn’t want to learn from the West anymore,” Reinhard Bütikofer, a German member of the European Parliament, wrote in reaction to Zhaoming’s tweet.

“They’re above that now. Well, maybe, they could still learn from Western popular wisdom: If you’re in a hole, stop digging! But then, what do you do, when you are in a hole, but think you’re on a mountain top?” Bütikofer added.

Chinese authorities have engaged in an aggressive propaganda campaign meant to absolve China of responsibility for the coronavirus outbreak.

China could have limited the virus’s global spread by up to 95% if it had acted three weeks earlier to combat the virus, according to one study.

Instead, Chinese authorities silenced doctors, whistleblowers and journalists who sought to warn the public about the virus in its early stages.