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What We Know So Far About the ‘Mysterious Pneumonia’ Outbreak in China

In a hospital in China. A few days ago. Photo: CNBCTV18.com

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By Aakansha Malia

November 27, 2023
5:37 pm
Los Angeles, CA

China has been hit by a contagion yet again, with pneumonia cases wreaking havoc in Northern and Southern China sparking fears of the start of a new global outbreak. According to the state-owned China National Radio earlier this week, Beijing Children’s Hospital is seeing an average of 7,000 patients per day – exceeding the hospital’s capacity. The World Health Organization (WHO) received detailed information on clusters of pneumonia in children and a spike in respiratory illnesses after it requested China to provide them with particulars on the disease over a teleconference with health officials. This occurred as a response to media reports about a spike in children’s hospitalization. China responded to WHO’s concerns by playing down the spread of the illness, claiming ‘no unusual or novel pathogens other than

China responded to WHO’s concerns by playing down the spread of the illness, claiming ‘no unusual or novel pathogens other than the seasonal ones were being detected.’ As the surging cases of mycoplasma pneumonia and influenza triggered the worldwide alert, Beijing went on to say that the spike in respiratory diseases was due to an ‘immunity gap’. According to a WHO statement, Chinese authorities linked the upsurge in respiratory illnesses to the easing of COVID-19 restrictions and the reemergence of well-known pathogens, including influenza, and mycoplasma pneumonia. Chinese authorities told the WHO that the current outbreak is related to ‘already known’ viruses or bacteria, thus ruling out any potential pandemic. China’s National Health Commission first reported an increase in respiratory diseases on November 13.

The recent outbreak in China brought back eerie memories of the Sars-Cov-2 outbreak. The Associated Press said according to Chinese internal sources the disease has swamped several hospitals in the Northern province including Beijing, and health authorities have asked the public to take children with less severe symptoms to clinics and other facilities. The healthcare system is on the brink of collapse as large hospitals in Beijing and Liaoning are full of sick children receiving intravenous drips and have long lines of waiting parents clad in winter clothing. Wang Quanyi, deputy director and chief epidemiological expert at the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told state media on November 22 that as temperatures are nosediving,” Beijing is currently showing a trend of multiple pathogens coexisting.”

After reviewing the information provided by Chinese authorities on the disease, WHO suggested that no travel or trade-based restrictions should be enforced on Chinese citizens. However, the WHO also quoted the Chinese response that said: “Some of these increases are earlier in the season than historically experienced.’’ WHO had several recommendations for the Chinese side including people following measures to reduce the risk of respiratory illness like recommended vaccines against influenza, COVID-19 and other respiratory pathogens as appropriate, social distancing from infected people and getting tested and isolating at home if infected.

The World Health Organization’s public request to Beijing for accurate data on the rising pneumonia cases among children has raised concern because such requests are usually made internally from countries. WHO said it requested further data from China via an international legal mechanism. Both WHO and China have received global criticism for being non-transparent about sharing data and information on the Coronavirus in 2020. The world still has apprehensions over the emergence of the deadly virus in the Chinese city of Wuhan in 2019 which later spiraled into a global pandemic resulting in deaths and ill health to millions of people across the world.