Beijing/Berlin, 27 November 2023 (dpa/MIA) – The Chinese government on Sunday urged local authorities to increase the number of hospitals following a surge of respiratory diseases in children in its first winter since stopping protective measures against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

The country's health authorities are predicting various respiratory diseases to circulate in parallel this winter and into spring next year, including COVID-19, flu and mycoplasma pneumoniae.

Cases of flu and mycoplasma infections had been rising since October, Bijing authorities said.

There has been concern in China and internationally over recent days following social media reports of full children's wards.

On Friday, the authorities identified a number of measures to counter the spread of pathogens, including body temperature checks at border crossings and checks in schools and care homes.

Medical resources are to be made available locally in response to the infection situation.

On Thursday, the WHO said in Geneva that the Chinese health authorities had reported they had not discovered any unusual or new pathogens or unusual clinical pictures.

The WHO had earlier asked China to provide "additional epidemiologic and clinical information" on the diseases involved and their spread, as well as laboratory results.

The illnesses were caused by several known respiratory pathogens, including rhinoviruses, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and mycoplasma infections, the Chinese authorities said.