Important Takeaways:

• Hospitals across China, the nation where the COVID-19 pandemic first emerged about four years ago, are grappling with a significant surge in respiratory illnesses among children. This primarily is being seen in Beijing and the northern regions.
• The rise in cases has been making headlines in China and raising concerns internationally, as Chinese doctors are working overtime to care for a huge flood of small patients.
• But health experts say there is no immediate cause for international concern regarding the surge in respiratory illnesses, which include pneumonia. The new cases are not on the scale of the initial COVID-19 outbreak and are not due to any new or unusual diseases, according to scientists.
• “Due to the arrival of the winter season, the increasing trend in respiratory illnesses is expected,” it added.
• Zuo-Feng Zhang, chair of the epidemiology department at UCLA, said “the pandemic 2.0 is not there yet,” despite concerns about a new major outbreak.

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