Mask Up: Concerns Rise as Respiratory Illness Surges in China
A lot of people in China are getting sick with breathing problems, and it reminds us of when Covid started in 2019. Probably a new virus is spreading, especially in schools, but surprisingly the government says it's not something really new. Most of the sick people are kids, and their parents are rushing them to hospitals, making it hard for the special children's hospitals to help everyone. Pictures of crowded hallways and sick kids are all over social media, and some parents want schools to close for a bit to stop the virus from spreading.
The first case of this sickness was reported on November 13, and since then, more people have gotten sick and had to go to the hospital. The World Health Organization (WHO) is now asking China for more information about what's going on. This problem is mostly in Beijing, but it's also in other parts of China. One big hospital in Beijing is seeing about 1,200 sick people every day. The sickness shows up as a fever, lung problems without a cough, and lumps on the lungs. Health experts think it's because of a mix of viruses, and it's happening now because it's the first full cold season after they lifted strict Covid rules in December.
China's health authorities say it's not only a new virus causing the sickness but also some common ones like mycoplasma, which is making kids sick with pneumonia. Unlike Covid, mycoplasma is a bacteria that comes back every few years. There are also other viruses like RSV going around, so many countries might face different sicknesses this winter.