The General Department of Preventive Medicine under the Ministry of Health has requested more information from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Chinese agency for International Health Regulations (IHR) regarding an increase in respiratory illness cases occurring in China.

On November 23, the Department of Preventive Medicine, a national agency for IHR implementation, also sent a letter to the WHO representative and the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Vietnam requesting they provide official information related to the increase in cases of respiratory diseases in the northern neighbour.

The general department revealed that it will continue to closely co-ordinate with the WHO, the US CDC, and other international organizations to stay updated on information regarding the situation of the spread of the respiratory illness disease and to propose appropriate prevention and control measures.

Simultaneously, it will co-ordinate with relevant units to strengthen dissemination work, calling on local people not to be subjective regarding the disease.

Earlier China’s National Health Commission held a press conference on November 13 about the increase in respiratory disease cases. The Chinese health authority stated that these cases were linked to pathogens such as influenza and mycoplasma pneumoniae, a common bacterial infection that typically affects younger children.

Chinese authorities attributed this increase to the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions coupled with the circulation of known pathogens such as influenza, mycoplasma pneumoniae (a common bacterial infection which typically affects younger children), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19).

On November 21, the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMED) reported clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children in northern China. It remains unclear if these are associated with the overall increase in respiratory infections previously reported by Chinese authorities, or if they separate events. 

The WHO requested additional epidemiologic and clinical information on November 22, as well as laboratory results from these reported clusters among children, through the International Health Regulations mechanism.

Source: VOV