‘Under Effective Control’: China’s Wang Yi Downplays Cluster of Flu Cases – News18

Foreign Minister Wang Yi has downplayed the recent surge in respiratory illnesses in China, describing it as a common issue faced by all countries and under the effective control of Chinese authorities. He made the remarks at the United Nations in New York where he is chairing a UN Security Council session on the Israel-Hamas conflict.

“Recently we have seen some clusters of flu cases among children in certain parts of China. In fact, that is a very common phenomenon in many countries, and in China that has been put under effective control,” Wang told reporters. “China’s interactions with the international community will not be affected by any factors, and we welcome more visits from friends from across the world,” he said.

Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) requested China provide detailed information on an increase in respiratory illnesses and reported clusters of pneumonia in children. However, a senior WHO official said on Monday that the spike in illnesses in China is not as high as before the Covid-19 pandemic, and reiterated that no new or unusual pathogens had been found in the recent cases.

Read More: China’s Respiratory Spike Not Comparable to Pre-Covid Peaks, Says WHO Official

“We asked about comparisons prior to the pandemic. And the waves that they’re seeing now, the peak is not as high as what they saw in 2018-2019,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, acting director of the WHO’s Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention.

“This is not an indication of a novel pathogen. This is expected. This is what most countries dealt with a year or two ago,” she added. Both China and the WHO have faced questions about the transparency of reporting on the earliest COVID-19 cases that emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.

(With agency inputs)