WHO seeks answers from China about mystery outbreak of respiratory illness
The World Health Organisation has asked China for more detailed information about an outbreak of a respiratory illness and reported clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children.
Since mid-October, the WHO said northern China had reported an increase in influenza-like illnesses compared with the same period in the previous three years.
In recent days, local media in cities such as Xian in the northwest have posted videos online of hospitals crowded with parents and children waiting to be seen by medics.
The WHO has responded by making an official request to China for additional information as well as laboratory results from the reported outbreaks among children.
In the meantime it has recommended Chinese communities take preventative measures including getting vaccinated, wearing masks, keeping a distance from sick people, staying at home when ill and regular hand-washing.
Chinese authorities have attributed the spike to a cold snap – and to the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and the circulation of known pathogens including respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza – as well as common bacterial infections that affect children, including mycoplasma pneumonia.
As temperatures plummeted in the Chinese capital of Beijing, located in the north of the country, the city “entered a high incidence season of respiratory infectious diseases”, Wang Quanyi, deputy director and chief epidemiological expert at the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told state media on Wednesday.
The city “is currently showing a trend of multiple pathogens coexisting”, he added.
Hospitals ‘overwhelmed with sick children’
On Wednesday, the WHO said groups including the Programme for Monitoring Emerging Diseases reported clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children in northern China.
The alert, based on a report by Taiwanese outlet FTV News, said children’s hospitals in Beijing and Liaoning, 500 miles apart, were “overwhelmed with sick children”.
“Many, many are hospitalised,” Mr Wei, a Beijing citizen, told FTV News. “They don’t cough and have no symptoms. They just have a high temperature (fever) and many develop pulmonary nodules.”
The WHO said it was unclear if these cases were associated with an overall increase in respiratory infections previously reported by Chinese authorities – or separate events.
The WHO said it received data from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Beijing Children’s Hospital which indicated an “increase in outpatient consultations and hospital admissions of children due to mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia” since May.
The agency continued: “Some of these increases are earlier in the season than historically experienced, but not unexpected given the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, as similarly experienced in other countries.
“No changes in the disease presentation were reported by the Chinese health authorities. Chinese authorities advised that there has been no detection of any unusual or novel pathogens or unusual clinical presentations, including in Beijing and Liaoning, but only the aforementioned general increase in respiratory illnesses due to multiple known pathogens.
“They further stated that the rise in respiratory illness has not resulted in patient loads exceeding hospital capacities.”
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The WHO has also asked for further information about trends in the circulation of known pathogens and the burden on healthcare systems. It said it is in contact with clinicians and scientists.
The WHO’s office in China on Thursday described the action as a “routine” check.
An increase in incidence of respiratory disease was first disclosed during a news conference last week by Chinese officials from the National Health Commission.
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Jan 2021: Sky team stopped from investigating COVID origins
Both China and the WHO have previously faced questions about the transparency of reporting on the earliest COVID cases.
Three years on from when the cases were first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in the latter months of 2019 – there is still debate about the origins of the coronavirus outbreak.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.
A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.
“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.
Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.
Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.
The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.
Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.
Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.
Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.
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Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.
Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.
The Israeli Air Force is regarded as one of the country’s most elite units.
So, when hundreds of current and former pilots call for an end to the war in Gaza to get the hostages out, Israelis take notice.
This month, 1,200 pilots caused a storm by signing an open letter arguing the war served mainly “political and personal interests and not security ones”.
The pilots’ protest letter
Part of the letter translated
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the original letter was written by “bad apples”.
But Guy Paron, a former pilot and one of those behind the letter, said the Israeli government had failed to move to phase two of the ceasefire deal with Hamas, brokered under US President Donald Trump.
That deal called for a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of all the remaining hostages. Mr Netanyahu continues to argue that the war must continue to put pressure on Hamas.
Mr Paron said the (Israeli) government “gave up or violated a signed agreement with Hamas” and “threw it to the trash”.
“You have to finish the deal, release the hostages, even if it means stopping that war,” he argued.
It’s not the first time Israeli pilots have taken up a cause. Many of them also campaigned against Mr Netanyahu’s 2023 judicial reforms.
“In this country, 1,000 Israeli Air Force pilots carry a lot of weight,” Mr Paron added.
“The Air Force historically has been the major force and game-changer in all of Israel’s wars, including this current one. The strength of the Air Force is the public’s guarantee of security.”
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Anti-government campaign spreads
Now, the open letter campaign has spread to other parts of the military.
More than 15,000 people have signed, including paratroopers, armoured corps, navy, special units, cyber and medics. The list goes on.
Dr Ofer Havakuk has served 200 days during this war as a combat doctor, mostly in Gaza, and believes the government is continuing the war to stay in power.
He has also signed an open letter supporting the pilots and accused the prime minister of putting politics first.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the authors of the original letter as ‘bad apples’. Pic: AP
He said Mr Netanyahu “wants to keep his coalition working and to keep the coalition together. For him, this is the main purpose of the war”.
A ceasefire could lead to the collapse of the prime minister’s fragile far-right coalition, which is opposed to ending the war.
Threat of dismissal
The Israeli military has threatened to dismiss those who have signed protest letters.
We met a former pilot who is still an active reservist. He didn’t want to be identified and is worried he could lose his job.
“This is a price that I’m willing to pay, although it is very big for me because I’m volunteering and, as a volunteer, I want to stay on duty for as long as I can,” he told us.
The controversy over the war and the hostages is gaining momentum inside Israel’s military.
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It is also exposing deep divisions in society at a time when there is no clear sign about how the government plans to end the war in Gaza, or when.
The renewed war in Gaza over the last year and a half followed deadly Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw around 250 taken hostage.
More than 51,000 people have been killed in Gaza during the Israeli military’s response, many of them civilians, according to the enclave’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
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