China claims new virus is NOT the culprit in mysterious childhood pneumonia outbreak – despite history of cover-up

China has claimed that the outbreak of a mysterious pneumonia sweeping through schools is not the result of a new virus.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it had seen data from China suggesting the spike in respiratory illnesses was due to common infections rebounding after the country’s brutal lockdowns.

Chinese health officials say the outbreak – which is “overwhelming” some hospitals and pushing schools to the brink of closure – is the result of a mix of infections caused by Mycoplasma pneumoniae, RSV, adenovirus and the flu.

But the WHO is calling for full cooperation from China, which covered up the 2003 SARS outbreak and failed to warn the world about Covid for months, leaving countries flat-footed in their responses.

Local media reported earlier this week that hospitals in Beijing and 800 kilometers northeast of Liaoning were “overwhelmed by sick children” with unusual symptoms, including inflammation of the lungs and high fever, but no cough.

The situation prompted an alert from ProMed – a disease surveillance system that similarly raised the alarm about a mysterious infection in Wuhan in the final days of 2019, which would later evolve into the global Covid pandemic.

The WHO said on Wednesday it had sent an official request to China for additional information laboratory results of reported cases and data on recent trends in circulating respiratory pathogens.

The health agency held a teleconference with Chinese health authorities from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Beijing Children’s Hospital on Thursday.

The WHO said: ‘Chinese authorities have advised that no unusual or new pathogens or unusual clinical presentations have been detected, including in Beijing and Liaoning, but only the aforementioned general increase in respiratory illness due to multiple known pathogens.

“They further stated that the increase in respiratory diseases has not caused the number of patients to exceed hospital capacity.”

But local media reports, including Taiwanese newspaper FTV News, claimed hospitals were “overwhelmed”.

The Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said more than 3,500 cases of “respiratory tract infection” had been admitted to Beijing Children’s Hospital in early October, Radio Free Asia reported.

An employee at Beijing Friendship Hospital’s pediatrics department said there had to be a 24-hour wait before any emergencies were noticed.

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

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

Chinese authorities also told WHO that enhanced outpatient and inpatient surveillance had been implemented since mid-October, including for the first time Mycoplasma pneumoniae.

It appears that the WHO has not independently confirmed China’s claims.

Walking pneumonia, which usually affects younger children, causes sore throat, fatigue and coughing that can last for months. It’s called walking pneumonia because symptoms are usually mild enough for patients to continue walking around.

In severe cases, the disease can become pneumonia.

The strain is reportedly growing in China as the country enters its first winter without strict Covid lockdowns.

Similar patterns were seen globally as measures to combat the spread of Covid – such as face masks, social distancing and lockdowns – interrupted the spread of typical seasonal viruses.

The US and Britain saw spikes in infections such as RSV and flu after pandemic rules were lifted.

As a result, immunity against these insects dropped in all populations, meaning people became more vulnerable to insects as measures were lifted.

China told WHO that hospitalizations of children have increased since May due to Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia, and since October RSV, adenovirus and influenza virus.

Professor Francois Balloux, an expert in computational biology at University College London, said the phenomenon of ‘lockdown exit’ waves of infections had also occurred in Britain, and that China could experience a similar pattern on a larger scale.

“Other countries, including Britain, experienced large waves of respiratory infections and hospital admissions in children during their first winter after pandemic restrictions were lifted,” he said.

“Given that China has experienced a much longer and more severe lockdown than any other country in the world, it was expected that those ‘lockdown exit’ waves in China could be substantial.”

China has previously been criticized for downplaying the original SARS epidemic in 2003 and the Covid pandemic in late 2019 – both new viruses that caused pneumonia.

WHO China, the regional arm of the United Nations-backed health agency, has already tried to play down the WHO’s broader request for information, calling it a “routine” procedure.

British infectious disease experts said that as data continued to emerge, China must get a “grip” on the outbreak and do so in a “transparent” manner.

The WHO said it was “closely monitoring the situation” and “in close contact with national authorities in China.”

It would provide updates as needed, it added.