SHANGHAI, Nov 24 (Reuters) - China called for vigilance on Friday as a surge of respiratory illness hit schools and hospitals and the World Health Organization, which has asked the government for disease data, said no unusual or novel pathogens had been detected.
The State Council said influenza would peak this winter and spring and mycoplasma pneumoniae infection would continue to be high in some areas in future.
"At this stage, there is nothing to suggest that it may be a new variant of COVID," he said.
"I hope that people will not be biased because of the pandemic ... but look at this from a scientific perspective."
"It's not that bad, there are more children falling sick now but it's mainly an issue of protection," she said.
Persons:
Bruce Thompson, Emily Wu, Feng Zixun, Andrew Silver, Nicoco Chan, Brenda Goh, Robert Birsel
Organizations:
World Health Organization, State Council, State, WHO, Program, Melbourne School of Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, Beijing, Thomson
Locations:
SHANGHAI, China, Beijing, Liaoning, Wuhan, Shanghai