The World Health Organization is reportedly demanding answers from China about an outbreak of pneumonia among children in northern parts of the country — raising questions once again about how transparent Beijing is when it comes to sharing public health data.
The WHO issued the official information request — which is seeking “additional epidemiologic and clinical information, as well as laboratory results” — after reports surfaced Tuesday about undiagnosed clusters of pneumonia, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Although the request itself is fairly routine, the outlet said it’s “relatively rare” for the United Nations agency to do so publicly.
But the WHO’s apprehension likely stems from China’s poor record of data-sharing during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Journal added.
“There’s no doubt that the WHO has been concerned with transparency and data communication,” one Beijing-based global health official told the newspaper.
“It also puts some pressure on the country that has been requested to cooperate.”
Over the last few weeks, Chinese health officials and state media reported the surge in bacterial pneumonia and other flu-like diseases that are specifically hitting children, the Journal said.
But Chinese authorities claim the illnesses have appeared in such great numbers in part because the nation lifted its severe COVID-19 controls — which had also mitigated the spread of other respiratory sicknesses.
“These diseases have returned to their pre-epidemic behavior this year, and the incidence level has returned to normal compared with before the epidemic,” Tong Zhaohui, director of the Beijing Institute of Respiratory Medicine, said during a press conference earlier this month.
So infections like mycoplasma pneumonia — a bacterial illness that commonly strikes children — are likely to emerge every few years, he added.
“Everyone should pay attention and adopt personal protection measures, which is the key to prevention,” Zhaohui said.
China’s National Health Commission did not respond to the Journal’s inquiries.
But commission officials admitted that children’s hospitals have been inundated with sick kids.
“Large hospitals are crowded, have long waiting times, and there’s a high risk of cross-infection,” commission reps said during an interview with the official Xinhua News Agency, before recommending that kids with light symptoms go to their local doctor first.
Some schools in Beijing have also suspended classes that saw high infection rates, the paper said.
The WHO urged the Chinese government to provide more reliable, accurate data on hospitalizations and deaths during the country’s COVID outbreak in January, the Journal said.
It has also asked the Chinese capital to make public more information about other respiratory diseases its people may be struggling with, including the flu and COVID-19.