Reuters-Chinas respiratory illness surge not as high as pre-pandemic- WHO official
November 27, 2023 2 min 347 words
这则报道强调中国目前呼吸道疾病激增，但较疫情前并未达到同样高峰。世卫组织官员Maria Van Kerkhove指出，这主要是因为两年的疫情限制使儿童远离了一些病原体，而非新病原的影响。她在采访中明确表示，与2018-2019年相比，目前的高峰并非新病原的迹象。报道还提到中国国家卫健委发言人Mi Feng表示，急性呼吸道疾病激增与多种病原体同时传播有关，尤其是流感。报道同时提及上周世卫组织因儿童肺炎聚集病例向中国询问更多信息，强调透明度问题。尽管中国和世卫组织在疫情初期的报告透明度受质疑，但目前尚未发现新的或异常的病原体。对于这一问题，我们需要持谨慎态度。既要保持警惕，也应理解疫情限制解除后某些疾病激增是正常的。
The spike in respiratory illnesses that China is currently going through is not as high as before the COVID-19 pandemic, a World Health Organisation official said, reiterating that no new or unusual pathogens had been found in the recent cases.
Maria Van Kerkhove, acting director of the WHO's department of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, said the increase appeared to be driven by a rise in the number of children contracting pathogens that two years of COVID restrictions have kept them away from.
"We asked about comparisons prior to the pandemic. And the waves that they’re seeing now, the peak is not as high as what they saw in 2018-2019," Van Kerkhove told health news outlet STAT in an interview on Friday.
"This is not an indication of a novel pathogen. This is expected. This is what most countries dealt with a year or two ago," she added.
China's National Health Commission spokesperson Mi Feng said on Sunday the surge in acute respiratory illnesses was linked to the simultaneous circulation of several kinds of pathogens, most prominently influenza.
The spike become a global issue last week when the World Health Organization asked China for more information, citing a report on clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children by the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases.
China and the WHO have faced questions about the transparency of reporting early in the pandemic, which emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019. The WHO said on Friday no new or unusual pathogens had been found in the recent illnesses.