Health workers checking the temperature of passengers at the airport in China.
Geneva: The World Health Organization (WHO) had officially requested China to provide information about a potentially worrying increase in cases of respiratory diseases and pneumonia. Following WHO’s request, Chinese officials have said that no ‘unusual or new disease’ has emerged in their country. The U.N. health agency cited media reports and reports from a global infectious disease surveillance service about the strange pneumonia affecting children in northern China and asked China earlier this week to provide more information. Had appealed.
‘There is a need for strict monitoring of the current situation’
Scientists say this situation requires close monitoring, but they cannot say with certainty whether the recent increase in respiratory diseases in China is a sign of the beginning of a new global infection. Infection with a virus that can cause a pandemic usually begins with an unknown form of respiratory illness. Both SARS and COVID-19 were first described as unusual types of pneumonia. WHO said China’s National Health Commission officials had reported an increase in respiratory diseases on November 13.
Officials told why cases are increasing
According to WHO, Commission officials had said that the cases of respiratory diseases are increasing because the restrictions related to the lockdown implemented to deal with Covid-19 have been removed. Other countries also saw a rise in cases of respiratory diseases such as ‘respiratory syncytial virus’ or RSV when pandemic-related restrictions were lifted. WHO said it comes nearly a week after media reports reported cases of unidentified pneumonia in children in northern China and that it held a meeting with Chinese health officials on Thursday to provide the data it requested. Was.
‘Influenza-like diseases increasing in China’
The data showed an increase in children hospitalized for a variety of illnesses, including bacterial infections, RSV, influenza and the common cold virus, since October. Chinese officials said that no ‘unusual or new disease’ has emerged in their country and it has not increased the burden on the country’s hospitals. WHO said, ‘It is not clear whether this is an increase in cases of respiratory infection previously reported by Chinese authorities or is related to isolated cases.’ WHO said an increase in influenza-like illnesses had been reported in northern China since mid-October compared to the previous three years.
Huge crowd is being seen in the hospitals of China.
China is keeping an eye on children’s diseases
It is rare for the UN health agency to publicly ask for more detailed information from countries, as such requests are usually made internally. China’s National Health Commission on Wednesday suggested that children with mild symptoms ‘first go to primary health institutions or pediatric departments of general hospitals’ because larger hospitals are overcrowded and they need to be treated more frequently, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Have to wait for a long time. The Health Commission said it is keeping a close eye on cases of infectious diseases among children.
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