Like early days of Covid: Is China hiding something about recent infections?
Covid pandemic, everyone hopes the recent outbreak of respiratory diseases in China is nothing more than what China claims it to be. The outbreak of respiratory illnesses in China has revived the scary memories of the beginning of Covid in China.
Hospitals are flooded with patients, especially children, and authorities are telling people to wear masks.
The information available so far suggests there is nothing worrisome for the rest of the world — ironically, another eerie similarity to the early days of the pandemic in China.
What China says
The outbreak of mysterious undiagnosed pneumonia in children in northern China triggered concerns that another novel virus could be spreading.
However, Chinese health authorities told the World Health Organization (WHO) that the source of the outbreak of respiratory diseases among children are known pathogens. They said there has been increases in outpatient visits and hospitalisations due to the spread of mycoplasma pneumoniae, respiratory syncytial virus, adenovirus and influenza.
Chinese authorities say the clusters of respiratory infections are caused by an overlap of common viruses such as the influenza virus, rhinoviruses, the respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, the adenovirus as well as bacteria such as mycoplasma pneumoniae, which is a common culprit for respiratory tract infections.
The WHO has said that the uptick in infections in China has come earlier than what's been experienced historically, but isn't unexpected given the lifting of Covid curbs, Experts concur with the Chinese authorities that there is no cause for alarm as the infections were all expected and have nothing unusual about them.
Why the world is cautious
The emergence of new flu strains or other
