Chinese authorities said during a press conference that the increase could be attributed to the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions
A new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) warns of clusters of pneumonia in children in northern China.
Since mid-October, the WHO said, northern China has reported an increase in respiratory diseases compared with the same period the previous three years.
The update comes as people on social media have compared the increase in respiratory illness in China to the COVID-19 outbreak, which saw its first large outbreak in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.
Chinese authorities said during a November 13 press conference that the increase could be attributed to the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and the circulation of known viruses such as influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) and mycoplasma pneumoniae, a common bacterial infection that typically affects younger children.
In the new report, which reviewed requested data from China, the WHO said an increase in cases came earlier in the season but was not unexpected given the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, as similarly experienced in other countries.
