The World Health Organization (WHO) has requested information from China over a spike in respiratory ailments and reported clusters of pneumonia in children. The WHO’s office in China referred to this inquiry as a “routine” review on Thursday.

Authorities from the National Health Commission held a news conference in China on November 13 to announce a rise in respiratory illness cases.

Authorities attributed the increase to the loosening of limitations regarding COVID-19 as well as the movement of recognized diseases such as influenza, mycoplasma pneumonia, a common bacterial illness that usually affects younger children, respiratory syncytial virus, and the virus that causes COVID-19.

Both China and the WHO have been criticized for their lack of openness in reporting the early COVID-19 cases, first identified in the city of Wuhan in the central region of China in late 2019.

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Wednesday that many organizations, including the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases, found clusters of undetected cases of pneumonia in children in northern China. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), whether these were related to an overall rise in respiratory illnesses previously documented by Chinese authorities or independent incidents was unclear.

The World Health Organization (WHO) stated that it has requested further epidemiologic and clinical information and test data from the reported outbreaks among youngsters. This request was made through the mechanism of the International Health Regulations.

In addition, it has requested more information from China about trends in the movement of recognized diseases and the strain placed on healthcare systems. According to the WHO, it could communicate with physicians and scientists in China thanks to the existing technological connections and networks it had in place.

WHO China stated that it was “routine” to collect information on rises in respiratory infections and reported clusters of pneumonia in children from member nations like China. This was in response to a question about whether or not it was appropriate to ask for such information.

As a result of receiving a lot of inquiries concerning China from the media, the international organization WHO has decided to release a statement on the topic to convey the currently available information. According to a message sent out by China via email,

According to a transcript, undiagnosed pneumonia was not brought up during the press conference the week before. However, one speaker did say that everyone felt as though there had been an increase in respiratory diseases this year compared with three years before.

The speaker said there had been a decrease in worldwide surveillance for mycoplasma pneumonia during the previous three years and that epidemics tend to emerge in cycles ranging from three to seven years.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), northern China has recorded a higher number of cases of influenza-like illness since the middle of October compared to the same period in the three years prior.

It was said that China had procedures to record information on trends in sickness occurrences and send such data to platforms such as the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System.

Recently, the media in locations such as Xian in the northwest have uploaded recordings showing hospitals packed with people waiting to be checked, including parents and children. There have been images shared on social media showing youngsters receiving intravenous infusions in the hospital as they are working on their homework.

The World Health Organization (WHO) stated that it was in the process of gathering new information. Still, in the meantime, it advised individuals in China to take precautions to lower their risk of developing respiratory illnesses.

Vaccination, maintaining a safe distance from others who are unwell, remaining in one’s house while ill, obtaining testing and medical care when required, wearing masks as necessary, ensuring enough ventilation, and regularly washing one’s hands were a few examples of the preventative actions that were included in the report.