WHO request follows reports about overcrowded fever clinics, hospital emergency rooms and children’s wards, with experts citing the circulation of multiple winter pathogens, including Sars-CoV-2.
The World Health Organization has asked China to provide more information about a spike in respiratory diseases among children in its northern regions.
The request followed reports and social media posts about overcrowded fever clinics, hospital emergency rooms and children’s wards due to a surge in respiratory illness attributed to multiple pathogens.
The WHO cited China’s National Health Commission as saying on November 13 that the surge had been caused by pathogens including influenza, mycoplasma pneumoniae and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), all common pathogens behind winter respiratory disease outbreaks, as well as Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.
WHO warns of ‘concerning’ Covid-19 trends ahead of winter
In its statement on Wednesday, the WHO said it had requested “additional epidemiologic and clinical information, as well as laboratory results” relating to clusters of “undiagnosed pneumonia in children in northern China”, as reported on Tuesday by media and the Programme for Monitoring Emerging Diseases or ProMED, the world’s largest publicly available system tracking infectious disease outbreaks.
“It is unclear if these are associated with the overall increase in respiratory infections previously reported by Chinese authorities, or separate events,” the WHO said, as it asked the Chinese government to provide more information about the circulation of the known pathogens.
