The World Health Organisation (WHO) has requested additional information from China on reports received from both the media and ProMed, the global outbreak surveillance system, of “cases of undiagnosed pneumonia among children in northern China”, on Thursday, the 23rd of November, reports the BBC.
The UN health agency’s statement said that since October northern China has seen an “increase in influenza-like illnesses” compared to the same period in the previous three years.
China’s National Health Commission last week had reported a nationwide increase in cases of various respiratory illnesses, particularly influenza, Covid, mycoplasma pneumoniae (a common bacterial infection in young children) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), according to the BBC.
Officials have attributed this increase to the lifting of restrictions on Covid,
a trend also observed in other countries such as the UK and the US following the lifting of pandemic measures.
WHO has formally requested further information to determine whether the reported outbreak of pneumonia and the overall increase in respiratory tract infections are linked. The organisation recommends that people in China follow basic precautions, including vaccination, wearing masks and hand hygiene.
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