Hospitals Overwhelmed As New Virus Outbreak Ravages China

Mr Gangakhedkar said children under five years remained at risk of contracting the virus.

Hospitals in China have been reportedly overwhelmed as a result of the outbreak of a mysterious, Covid-like virus in the country.

Videos circulating on various social media platforms and seen by the Peoples Gazette on Saturday showed patients wearing face masks at various hospitals and parents holding ailing children in long lines in paediatric sections.

While no official statement has been released to describe the development, scenes echoed the tensions reminiscent of the early days of the deadly coronavirus.

Reports have also linked the mysterious outbreak to a little-known virus called human metapneumovirus (HMPV), which is known to be responsible for a mild cold-like illness.

Meanwhile, the Indian Council of Medical Research scientist, Raman Gangakhedkar, allayed fears of another pandemic amid the outbreak, saying children under five years remained at risk of contracting the virus.

“There is no need to be alarmed about human metapneumovirus (HMPV) unless a global health agency reports a genetic mutation,” Mr Gangakhedkar said.

Another medical practitioner at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in India, Suresh Gutpa, noted HMPV is not new, adding it has been in existence for more than 20 years.

Mr Gutpa said, “It comes particularly in the winter season, it is like influenza virus, normal viral fever. In most of the cases, the symptoms are cold, cough, fever, and they are self-limiting. With general medicine, they settle down at home. Most of the children who get this infection, do not require hospitalisation. So mostly it is a mild infection.’’

The outbreak came after the Chinese Centre for Disease Control warned that rates of multiple flu-like illnesses were on the rise. A report published late December indicated data suggesting that 7.2 per cent of outpatient visits to local hospitals in northern provinces were due to a flu-like illness.