A mysterious surge of child pneumonia cases has overwhelmed hospitals in China and sparked renewed fears of another pandemic. Cases now appear to be spreading throughout Europe, as well.
While world health officials are monitoring the situation in China, cases continue to pop up and surge elsewhere around the world. Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands have all recently been hit with similar outbreaks, with Danish health officials already saying that it has reached “epidemic levels.”
In China, new videos and images are surfacing of workers in full hazmat suits spraying disinfectant throughout schools, streets, and in other public areas, bearing similarities to China’s COVID-19 response. Face masks and social distancing are also being recommended.
But it’s those same responses, together with lockdowns, which some experts blame for the new pneumonia cases in the first place.
Health officials in China and Europe say that a lack of exposure to respiratory illnesses during previous COVID-era lockdowns may have made children more vulnerable to threats like this.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says these pneumonia cases do not resemble any new pathogen, even as it continues to press China for more data and information.
Chinese officials attribute the cases to a post-lockdown rebound, and dismiss concerns of this being an entirely new virus. China imposed one of the longest and strictest lockdowns in the world during the COVID-19 pandemic, which the WHO says deprived Chinese children of the ability to develop natural antibodies against more common seasonal illnesses.