https://nypost.com/2023/11/23/news/mysterious-new-respiratory-illness-outbreak-in-china-catches-whos-attention/

The World Health Organisation has asked China for details about an outbreak of respiratory illnesses and reportedly undiagnosed pneumonia after local media shared footage of hospitals crowded with children.

Since mid-October, northern China has reported an increase in “influenza-like illnesses” compared with the same period in the previous three years, according to WHO.

Clusters of undiagnosed childhood pneumonia cases have also been reported in the north of the country, the WHO said in a statement on Wednesday, though it’s unclear whether these are related to the respiratory infections.

The WHO’s questions come from Chinese media in some cities, including Xian in the country’s northwest, which posted videos of hospitals crowded with parents and children waiting to be seen.

Some social media users have also posted photos of children doing homework while receiving intravenous drips in the hospital.

The media reports suggest “a widespread outbreak of an undiagnosed respiratory illness in several areas in China,” according to the International Society for Infectious Diseases Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMED).

“It is not at all clear when this outbreak started, as it would be unusual for so many children to be affected so quickly,” the body said, but reports of illness predominantly showing up in children suggest “some exposure at the schools.”

China maintained a policy known as Covid zero, marked by strict lockdowns and quarantines, mass testing, and rigorous contact tracing, for nearly two years before abandoning it last December.