Child Pneumonia Cases Overwhelm Chinese Hospitals, Alarming the WHO

Children and their parents wait at an outpatient area at a children hospital in Beijing on Nov. 23, 2023. Jade Gao/AFP via Getty Images

Chinese hospitals have been overwhelmed with children infected with pneumonia as respiratory illness outbreaks spike across the country. It’s reported that a large number of medical staff have also been infected.

Since mid-October, many children have been infected with pneumonia, having fever, and even exhibiting white lung symptoms as seen from serious COVID-19 infections in various regions in China. The cases skyrocketed further in November, overwhelming hospitals.

The reports of the escalation of the “undiagnosed pneumonia” outbreaks in major Chinese cities have alarmed the World Health Organization (WHO) and ProMED, a large public surveillance system that monitors human and animal disease outbreaks worldwide.

On Nov. 22, WHO issued a statement on social media urging China to share information of the outbreak.

“WHO has made an official request to China for detailed information on an increase in respiratory illnesses and reported clusters of pneumonia in children,” it said.

On Nov. 21, ProMed issued a notification detailing a reported epidemic of “undiagnosed pneumonia” in children in China.

Recent reports from official Chinese media have highlighted the rapid spread of respiratory infections, initially identified as "Mycoplasma pneumonia," particularly affecting children across various regions of China. The image shows parents waiting with their children at a hospital outpatient department in China on the morning of Oct. 19, 2023. Video Screen Shot by The Epoch Times

ProMed issued an alert in late December 2019 that brought attention to a mystery virus later named SARS-CoV-2, which had caused the COVID-19 pneumonia outbreak in China. The alert helped to inform doctors and scientists worldwide, including senior officials at the WHO.

At the end of the notification, ProMED staff said, “The pandemic clock is ticking, we just do not know what time it is.”

Now, Chinese authorities claimed on Nov. 21 that multiple respiratory pathogens such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s virus COVID-19, influenza virus, and mycoplasma pneumonia virus are allegedly causing mixed respiratory infections in the country.

Hospitals Overflow, Parents Silenced

A large number of posts on Chinese social media have been about students falling ill and being unable to go to school while unable to secure a doctor’s appointment at hospitals due to there being too many sick children. Some front-line doctors said that they couldn’t even book medical appointments for their own children. However, the ruling CCP has since banned parents from speaking publicly about their troubles.

Many videos on social media show that hospitals in major cities across the country, such as Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan, Liaoning, and other places have been overcrowded.

A nurse in Liaoning Province in northeast China posted to social media on Nov. 21 that the pediatric department of her hospital is full, echoing the situation during the mass COVID-19 outbreak last December when the CCP suddenly abandoned all pandemic control policies and measures. There are 12 people in her department, nine of whom are experiencing a fever.

A colleague bought a test kit and the test showed two red lines. “Influenza, mycoplasma, and COVID-19 are all positive. It’s so scary!” she said.

Mr. Cheng, a resident of Benxi city in Liaoning Province, told The Epoch Times on Nov. 21 that it is the same across the country now, with many children getting sick, “It’s very serious. There are 40 to 50 children in a class here, and only a dozen of them go to class. The other children are all sick.”

Health care workers attend a COVID patient in Shanghai on Jan. 14, 2023. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

Zhao Lanjian, a former Chinese journalist who now resides in the United States, posted on social media: “Dalian Children’s Hospital was overcrowded and related news was deleted from the entire Internet. The screenshot of a social media post shows that a parent told the teacher that his child had passed away in the hospital.”

Mr. Tong, a Tianjin citizen, told The Epoch Times on Nov. 21, “This wave of virus outbreak is very serious. Now, the pediatric departments of hospitals in Beijing, Tianjin, Dalian, Shenyang, and other places are all full, and children cannot get treatment.”

He said that the hospital’s pediatric department has been overcrowded for quite some time, and it is getting more and more serious now.

“However, experts do not speak out, and doctors do not tell the public anything either, including Zhong Nanshan (the CCP’s top health advisor),” Mr. Tong said.

Recent videos posted to social media show the lobby of Tianjin Beichen Hospital crowded with sick children and their parents.

There are also videos showing the lobby of Beijing Children’s Hospital also crowded with sick children and their parents. A large number of patients were seen lining up for blood collection, with nurses calling out the number 1,541—potentially indicating how long the time was for the day.

The number that the person who took the video had was 1,887. The person suggested in the video that those who go to the hospital should bring a stool, because there’s no place to sit.

Mr. Wei, a Beijing citizen, told The Epoch Times on Nov. 21 that many children are now sick, and many are hospitalized. “They don’t cough and have no symptoms other than high fever. Many of them have symptoms of pulmonary nodules.”

“All the students in a class are sick, and their family members and teachers are also infected. It is very serious.” Mr. Wei said. “Now, the schools forbid parents talking about it, nor is it allowed to discuss these things in the class group chat.”

patients on wheelchairs and people in the emergency department of a hospital in Beijing on January 3, 2023. JADE GAO/AFP via Getty Images

The CCP suddenly abandoned its strict pandemic control measures last December, causing a massive outbreak of COVID-19 across China and countless deaths. Since then, every time there has been a large-scale disease outbreak with patients overflowing out of hospitals, the CCP would come up with a new term to explain it, such as influenza A, pharyngitis, and most recently, mycoplasma infection.

However, Chinese people generally believe that the new names being used may be to cover up new COVID-19 outbreaks.

Li Yun and Li Shanshan contributed to this report.