Reports of children’s hospitals in Beijing, Liaoning and other cities being ‘overwhelmed with sick children’.
The World Health Organization has asked Beijing for more information on a mysterious pneumonia outbreak in northern China that is mostly affecting children.
In a statement on Wednesday, the United Nations health agency issued an official request for detailed information on the reporting of “respiratory illness and pneumonia clusters in children.”
China is experiencing flu-like illnesses compared to the same period in the past three years, when strict measures were implemented as part of its zero-covid strategy.
That policy was abruptly abandoned in December 2022.
Earlier this month, China’s National Health Commission told reporters that the number of respiratory illnesses was rising, citing the lifting of COVID-19 measures and the spread of pathogens, not just COVID-19. Such as influenza, mycoplasma pneumoniae (a common bacterial infection usually in young children) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
Earlier this week, in late 2019, an online medical community called Promedy pointed to an increasing number of undiagnosed pneumonia cases in children in northern China after media reports about an unknown illness that later became Covid-19 spreading in the city of Wuhan.
FTV News, a Taiwanese media outlet, reports that children’s hospitals in northern Beijing, Liaoning and elsewhere are “overwhelmed with sick children” and parents are asking authorities to “cover up the epidemic”.
Promedi said more accurate information about the “disease” is needed.
He asked Beijing for more details on the situation, citing the unclear nature of the outbreak in northern China and the rise in overall respiratory infections previously reported by Chinese officials.
“WHO reports additional epidemiological and clinical data as well as laboratory results among children through the International Health Regulations methodology,” he said.
We also requested additional information on the prevalence of known pathogens, including influenza, SARS-CoV-2, RSV, and mycoplasma pneumoniae, and current pressures on health care systems. WHO is connected to clinicians and scientists through our technical partnerships and networks in China.
Writing on social media platform X, Dr. Krutika Kupali, part of the World Health Organization’s emergency program, said the illness “could be anything” and that there were respiratory illnesses after many countries lifted lockdowns. “We need more information about symptoms, epidemiology and what’s tested,” she added.
The World Health Organization has urged people in China to take steps to reduce their risk of contracting respiratory infections, including updating vaccinations, social distancing, wearing masks when necessary and staying home when sick. He said it was important to check.
In late 2019, the first cases of Covid-19 were reported as pneumonia of unknown cause, and in January 2020, the first death from the disease was recorded in China in the same month. It has been shared. The genetic sequence of Covid-19 is official.
“Deeply concerned” by the rapid spread and severity of the virus, as well as “alarming levels of inactivity”, the World Health Organization declared it an epidemic in March 2020.
A World Health Organization team finally visited Wuhan in early 2021 to investigate the outbreak, but the origin of the virus remains unclear.