New disease outbreak in China overwhelms hospitals as patients hit by illness
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A disease outbreak has overwhelmed hospitals in China, officials have warned. Videos on social media are showing hospital units overrun with patients affected by the illness, with many children coughing, held by parents wearing face coverings in long lines to the paediatric units. Unverified reports of overwhelmed crematoriums and funeral homes have also been shared.
Worrying scenes in China recently have been likened to the early days of the Coronavirus outbreak while local news stations in the country say a little-known virus could be behind a spike in health woes. Known as human metapneumovirus (HMPV), the illness causes a mild cold-like set of symptoms and could be behind the outbreak.
Officials are yet to confirm this but the situation has been compared to a similar moment in China back in winter 2022 when cases of "white lung" saw an increase. The mycoplasma pneumonia cases, while normally mild, spiked across the country and overran hospitals. That outbreak was blamed on children with low immune systems.
But a report from the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has suggested a regular flu is leading this latest outbreak, with 30% of tests coming back positive for influenza. One in seven people have been hospitalised with a severe respiratory illness after testing positive.
The Chinese government and World Health Organization are yet to address the videos publicly, which are being widely circulated on social media, the Daily Mail reported. Chinese CDC officials warn multiple flu-like illnesses are on the rise, with suggestions that 7.2% of outpatient visits to local hospitals in northern provinces were due to a flu-like illness.
