The World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed an increase in influenza-like illnesses in China.
The organisation has asked the country for more details amid reported clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children since mid-October.
Shanghai Songjiang District Central Hospital has received more than 700 children every day, according to Xinmin Weekly, which is three times higher than the same period in previous years.
Crowds of parents and children have also been seen dressed in winter clothes at Beijing’s Capital Institute of Pediatrics today.
Videos posted online by local media outlets show crowded hospitals with parents and children waiting to see doctors in Xian.
‘WHO has made an official request to China for detailed information on an increase in respiratory illnesses and reported clusters of pneumonia in children,’ the UN health body said in a statement on Wednesday.
Laboratory results from reported outbreaks among children have also been requested by the WHO
It gave no indication of China’s response to their request for information.
A parent surnamed Zhang accompanied her coughing nine-year-old son and said he had fallen ill with mycoplasma pneumonia — a pathogen that can cause sore throats, fatigue and fever.
She told AFP news agency ‘there are really a lot of children who have caught it recently. Of course that worries me.’
Li Meiling, 42, whose eight-year-old daughter is suffering from some type of pneumonia said: ‘It’s true that a lot of children her age are ill with this at the moment.’
But she added: ‘It’s winter, so it’s normal that there are more cases of respiratory illnesses. It’s due to the season.’
Beijing’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning has referred journalists to ‘the competent Chinese authorities’ over the news.
The WHO has recommended communities in China impacted by the illness to get vaccinated, wear masks, keep their distance from sick people, wash hands and stay at home when ill.
Groups including the Programme for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMED) reported clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children in northern China.
The WHO said it is unclear if these are associated with an overall increase in respiratory infections previously reported by Chinese authorities – or separate events.
China blames the spike for a cold snap in the north west of the country, on the lifting of coronavirus symptoms and the circulation of known pathogens, namely influenza and common bacterial infections that affect children, including mycoplasma pneumonia.
Beijing is experiencing a cold snap as temperatures plummet below zero in the northern capital.
The city has ‘entered a high incidence season of respiratory infectious diseases’, Wang Quanyi from the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told state media.
He added Beijing ‘is currently showing a trend of multiple pathogens coexisting’.
News of the increase in respiratory disease was first announced during a news conference by Chinese officials from the National Health Commission last week.
China and the WHO faced criticism during the coronavirus pandemic for not being transparent about the number of early cases.
There is still debate about the origins of the coronavirus pandemic three years on.
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