China: a mysterious respiratory virus

In Shanghai (China), in a hospital, a sick young girl cries. She’s been sitting too long. “I arrived at 1 p.m. and my daughter was only able to be treated now, it is late”, laments his mother. In the establishment, there is a dense crowd of worried parents and children. An influx of patients due to a respiratory illness which seems to affect many miners. The observation is similar elsewhere in the country. Like in a hospital in Beijing, where the queues are getting longer.

“We cannot formally rule out the emergence of a new virus”

Chinese authorities attribute the influx of patients to the abandonment of health restrictions in recent years and to the cold. For its part, the World Health Organization (WHO) is concerned and has asked China for detailed information on the situation. For a specialist, all scenarios are possible. “Because of what happened four years ago, we cannot formally rule out the emergence of a new virus or a new variant of SARS-CoV-2. Despite everything, there is has very little evidence in favor ofconfides Bruno Mégarbane, head of the intensive care unit at the Lariboisière hospital in Paris.