The Indian government has issued an advisory over the mysterious pneumonia outbreak in China. The union ministry of health has asked the states, including Gujarat, to be on alert. As the season is cold, patients with influenza, mycoplasma, and pneumonia are being closely monitored.

To avoid an outbreak like the COVID-19 pandemic, the ministry of health has asked state governments to stock PPE (personal protective equipment) kits and keep the beds ready to be used in the government hospitals.

According to the health ministry, the states and UTs were advised to ‘immediately review public health and hospital preparedness measures viz. availability of HR, hospital beds, drugs & vaccines for influenza, medical oxygen, antibiotics, personal protective equipment, testing kits and reagents, functionality of oxygen plants and ventilators, infection control practices in health facilities, at a senior level’.

The states and UTs were asked to upload the ‘data on influenza-like illness and severe acute respiratory illness (ILI/SARI) on the Integrated Disease Surveillance Project of Integrated Health Information Platform (IDSP- IHIP) portal, particularly from the public health institutions including medical college hospitals’.

States also asked to send nasal and throat swab samples of patients with SARI, particularly of children and adolescents, to Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratories (VRDLs) located in the States for testing for respiratory pathogens.

No cause for alarm at the moment

The advisory also stated the information stated by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which indicated an increase in respiratory illness in northern parts of China.

This is predominantly attributed to usual causes like Influenza, Mycoplasma pneumonia, SARS-CoV-2 etc.

As per WHO, the release of COVID-19 restrictions coinciding with the onset of the winter season in addition to the cyclical trend of respiratory illnesses such as Mycoplasma pneumonia have led to this surge.

While WHO has sought additional information from Chinese authorities, it is assessed that there is no cause for any alarm at the moment, according to the ministry.

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