The Guardian-Respiratory infection clusters in China not caused by novel virus says health ministry
November 26, 2023 3 min 503 words
这则报道揭示了中国发生的呼吸道感染群集，并经由卫生部门否认其由新型病毒引起。声明称，这是流感和其他已知病原体的结果，而不是新病毒。然而，正如报道中提到的，世卫组织(WHO)要求中国提供更多信息，这是一个值得关注的迹象。 这一事件突显了在信息透明度方面的挑战。中国及WHO因早期披露新冠疫情信息的不透明性而备受争议。这次再次引起关注，需要更多的数据以评估儿童呼吸道疾病的风险。对于公共卫生来说，透明度至关重要，尤其是在疾病群集的情况下。 中国卫生部呼吁提高防控措施，包括扩大发热门诊、推动儿童和老年人接种疫苗。这反映了在解除新冠限制后，其他国家也经历了呼吸道疾病激增的趋势。公众需关注，并期待WHO进一步调查，以确保透明度和全球卫生安全。
A surge in respiratory illnesses across China that has drawn the attention of the World Health Organization is caused by the flu and other known pathogens and not by a novel virus, the country’s health ministry said on Sunday.
Recent clusters of respiratory infections are caused by an overlap of common viruses such as the influenza virus, rhinoviruses, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and adenovirus, as well as bacteria such as mycoplasma pneumoniae, which is a common culprit for respiratory tract infections, a National Health Commission spokesperson said.
The ministry called on local authorities to open more fever clinics and promote vaccinations among children and elderly people as China grapples with a wave of respiratory illnesses in its first full winter since the removal of Covid-19 restrictions.
“Efforts should be made to increase the opening of relevant clinics and treatment areas, extend service hours and increase the supply of medicines,” said the ministry spokesperson, Mi Feng.
He advised people to wear masks and called on local authorities to focus on preventing the spread of illnesses in crowded places such as schools and nursing homes.
The WHO earlier this week formally requested that China provide information about a potentially worrying rise in respiratory illnesses and clusters of pneumonia in children, as mentioned by several media reports and a global infectious disease monitoring service.
The emergence of new flu strains or other viruses capable of triggering pandemics typically starts with undiagnosed clusters of respiratory illness. Both Sars and Covid-19 were first reported as unusual types of pneumonia.
Chinese authorities earlier this month blamed the increase in respiratory diseases on the lifting of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions. Other countries also saw a jump in respiratory diseases such as RSV when pandemic restrictions ended.
The WHO said Chinese health officials on Thursday provided the data it requested during a teleconference. This showed an increase in hospital admissions of children due to diseases including bacterial infection, RSV, influenza and common cold viruses since October.
Chinese officials maintained the surge in patients had not overloaded the country’s hospitals, according to the WHO.
It is rare for the UN health agency to publicly ask for more detailed information from countries, as such requests are typically made internally. The WHO said it requested further data from China via an international legal mechanism.
According to internal accounts in China, the outbreaks have swamped some hospitals in northern China, including in Beijing, and health authorities have asked the public to take children with less severe symptoms to clinics and other facilities.
The WHO said that there was too little information at the moment to properly assess the risk of these reported cases of respiratory illness in children.
Both Chinese authorities and the WHO have been accused of a lack of transparency in their initial reports on the Covid-19 pandemic, which started in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019.