At a time when the world has not recovered completely from the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an outbreak of the H9N2 virus and mysterious pneumonia affecting children in China, raising concerns all over the globe. There have been reports of more than 1200 children getting affected in a day and visiting the hospitals. Schools in China have told students to not come to classes.
“Given the crucial lessons from the Covid-19 outbreak, it is essential for China to investigate the causes of any unexplained illness promptly and come clean,” Dr NK Arora, the head of the Centre’s Covid panel told News18.
There are calls for the WHO to strongly pursue the current situation, fostering international collaborations to uncover the root cause of the outbreak.
“The world must not let any delay happen here and promptly investigate all three aspects – clinical, epidemiological, and microbiological, including strong genomic surveillance,” he added.
China is facing a strain on its healthcare system due to a significant rise in cases of unexplained pneumonia-like illness. Reports indicate that hospitals are struggling with the surge in cases, particularly amongst children in northern China, where clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia among children have been observed.
Earlier this week, ProMED, an online medical community, highlighted numerous media reports detailing the emergence of unexplained pneumonia cases. It is noteworthy that ProMED was one of the first to raise questions in late 2019 about an unknown illness circulating in Wuhan, eventually identified as COVID-19.
Concerns For India and Precautions
India is closely monitoring reported cases of pneumonia in children in China and is prepared to deal with any exigency, said the Union health ministry in a statement on Friday, adding that there was low risk to India as per the assessment so far.
Amid rising concerns in India, the Union Health Ministry is closely monitoring the reported cases of pneumonia among children in China. In a statement on Friday, the ministry said it is ready to deal with any exigency and according to the assessment so far, there’s a low risk to India.
However, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital Director Dr Ajay Shukla has suggested routine cleanliness practices and advised maintaining distance from individuals with respiratory illnesses due to the potential for viral transmission.
"If children are going to school, then take special care that they do not have cough, cold, fever or any other symptoms, and talk to them and ask if any child in their class is sick, and if this happens, inform the school teacher about it and if your child is sick then do not send him to school," Dr. Shukla said.