Beijing, Nov 25 : Hospitals in Beijing and northern China are grappling with a rise in respiratory illnesses among children as the country enters its first winter after easing stringent Covid-19 restrictions nearly a year ago, sources reported.
Wait times to consult doctors stretch for hours, with hundreds of patients waiting in queues at some children's hospitals in major cities of northern China, sources reported.
An official at the Beijing Children's Hospital on Tuesday said that the current average of more than 7,000 daily patients “far exceeds the hospital's capacity,” sources reported citing state media.
On Saturday, the largest paediatric hospital in nearby Tianjin broke a record as more than 13,000 children came to outpatient and emergency departments, sources cited a local state-run outlet.
Health officials in Beijing and other major cities across northern China called typical seasonal illnesses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), as well as mycoplasma pneumonia as driving causes.
The rise in cases in northern China comes at a time when there is a rise in seasonal respiratory infections around the northern hemisphere, including in the United States, where RSV is spreading at “unprecedented” levels among children.
However, the situation in China raised global concern after the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday asked China to share more information on the rise in respiratory illnesses and “reported clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children,” citing a post from open-source surveillance system ProMED, sources reported.
Following a pressing demand from the World Health Organisation to reveal more information on the surge in respiratory illnesses among children, China said there is no detection of any unusual or novel pathogens.
Some of these increases are occurring earlier in the season than usual, although this is not surprising given the easing of Covid-19 limitations, as seen in other nations.
