WHO calls on China to reinstate masks, social distancing and staying home when ill amid mystery pneumonia outbreak

• China must be more transparent on new outbreak than with Covid, experts say
• READ MORE: Whitty and JVT reject claims experts signed off Eat Out to Help Out

People in China should wear masks, socially distance and stay home if unwell amid an outbreak of a mystery respiratory illness, global health chiefs have warned.

Cases of ‘undiagnosed pneumonia’ have been detected at hospitals in Beijing and in Liaoning, a province 500 miles northeast of the capital.

Health facilities are ‘overwhelmed with sick children’ and classes are on the verge of being suspended according to local news reports.

Infected children are presenting with lung inflammation and a high fever, but not a cough or other symptoms that signal flu, RSV or another respiratory illnesses.

The situation prompted an alert from ProMed — a disease surveillance system which similarly sounded the alarm of a mystery infection in Wuhan in the closing days of 2019, which would later emerge as the global Covid pandemic.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged residents to don face coverings, stay away from ill people and remain at home if unwell. It has also called for the famously opaque nation to share ‘detailed information’ on the outbreak.

Students being dismissed from a school in Beijing as the city and others in Northern China are hit by a wave of mystery pneumonia in children 

The World Health Organization has demanded ‘detailed information’ from the famously opaque nation on the outbreak urged residents to wear masks, socially distance and isolate when unwell

Hospitals in Beijing and almost 500 miles northeast in Liaoning are among those ‘overwhelmed with sick children,’ according to local news reports

Chinese officials first reported an increase in respiratory diseases at a press conference on November 13, which they attributed to lifting lockdown restrictions.

Similar patterns had been seen worldwide as measures brought in to reduce the spread of Covid — such as face masks, social distancing and lockdowns — interrupted the spread of typical seasonal viruses, such as flu and RSV.

As a result, immunity against these bugs dropped across populations meaning people were more vulnerable to bugs as measures were lifted.

Officials blamed mycoplasma pneumoniae — a bacteria that causes lung infections — as well as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and Covid for the spike in illness.

Then ProMed this week reported clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children.

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The policy was not agreed with England’s chief medical officer or No10’s ex-chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance , Sir Professor Chris Whitty (pictured) told the Covid Inquiry. He added that neither would have agreed to the scheme, had they been informed, despite former PM Mr Johnson telling the probe it had ‘been discussed’

An editor’s note on the alert reads: ‘This report suggests a widespread outbreak of an undiagnosed respiratory illness… 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 report does not say that any adults were affected, suggesting some exposure at the schools.

‘ProMed awaits more definitive information about the etiology and scope of this concerning illness in China.’

It is unclear if these cases are linked to the overall increase in respiratory infections already reported by Chinese officials, or separate and potentially caused by a new virus.

The WHO said it has now called on China to share data on these patients, recent trends in the circulation of viruses and pressures on hospitals.

The UN health agency said it is also in contact with medics and scientists in a bid to understand the situation. 

In the meantime, it urged people in China to ‘follow measures to reduce the risk of respiratory illness’.

These include ‘recommended vaccination; keeping distance from people who are ill; staying home when ill; getting tested and medical care as needed; wearing masks as appropriate; ensuring good ventilation; and regular hand-washing’, the WHO said.

The source for the ProMed alert was a report by the Taiwanese outlet FTV News, which added that ‘parents questioned whether the authorities were covering up the epidemic.’

China has previously been criticised for downplaying the original SARS epidemic in 2003 and the Covid pandemic in late 2019 — which were both novel viruses that caused pneumonia.

WHO China, the regional branch of the United Nations backed health body, has already sought to downplay the wider WHO’s request for information, calling it a ‘routine’ procedure. 

British infectious disease experts said that, while data was still emerging, China must ‘get a grip’ on the outbreak and do so in ‘transparent’ fashion.

Dr Simon Clarke, a cellular microbiologist at the University of Reading, told MailOnline that experts were waiting on further analysis of the outbreak.

‘There are lots of germs which can cause a patient’s lungs to become inflamed and as the northern hemisphere moves towards winter, they are likely to become more prevalent,’ he said.

‘We don’t yet have confirmation of what is causing this outbreak in China, it may be something new or it may be a new version of something we’ve encountered before.’

However, he added that Chinese public health experts must uncover the source of the infection and, if necessary, contain the spread.

A news clip taken from FTV News appears to show a busy hospital waiting room in China with children receiving intravenous drips

‘It’s important that medical science in China gets a grip on what is causing this outbreak and whether there is any person-to-person spread,’ he said.

‘It was failure to contain Covid-19 and an overall lack of transparency that caused so much damage four years ago.’

Professor Paul Hunter, an expert in infectious diseases from the University of East Anglia, told this website that ProMed alerts aren’t uncommon and usually don’t amount to anything serious.

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Professor Sir Jonathan, England’s former deputy chief medical officer – who quit his role in March 2022 — became a household name during the Government’s response to the health emergency and is known for his calm demeanour and regular use of analogies

‘Such initial reports are relatively frequent and most of the time it turns out to be something reasonably known that goes away in due course,’ he said.

However, he added: ‘Until of course when it isn’t. Then we have serious problems.’

But the respected expert said that, so far, it doesn’t look like a Covid situation.

‘As far as we know it is only affecting children and the only features seem to be fever and pulmonary nodules,’ he said.

‘The pulmonary nodules in children would suggest a bacterial pneumonia rather than a viral infection.

‘Given that and the fact that adults don’t seem to be getting the infection makes me doubt it will behave like Covid and spread rapidly.’

However, Professor Hunter added that the fact two outbreaks had occurred at the same time in areas 500 miles (800km) apart suggests people should be ‘cautious’.

‘This probably won’t be the next big threat but no one can rule it out at this stage.’

Professor Ian Jones, a virologist at Reading, said the outbreak could be linked to a regular winter infection that had been boosted to epidemic levels by children having lower immunity coming out of lockdown.

He told MailOnline that, while more data was needed, the fact there had been no reported deaths meant it was ‘troublesome but not yet threatening’.

Professor Jones added that fears of a new pandemic were obviously heightened by people’s experience of Covid but at the moment such worries weren’t justified.

‘Don’t get carried away with symptoms, these vary a lot with particular strains, so can’t be used to identify the likely culprit,’ he said.

‘Modern sequencing techniques very fast and will identify the agent soon.

‘Until then traditional sanitation and distancing practices should prevail.’ 

Professor Francois Balloux, an expert of computational biology at University College London said the phenomenon of ‘lockdown exit’ waves of infections had also been in the UK, and China could be experiencing a similar pattern at a larger scale.  

‘Other countries, including the UK, experienced big waves of respiratory infections and hospitalisations in kids during their first winter after pandemic restrictions had been lifted,’ he said. 

‘Since China experienced a far longer and harsher lockdown than essentially any other country on earth, it was anticipated that those ‘lockdown exit’ waves could be substantial in China.’

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