Epidemiologist Tulio de Oliveira says an outbreak of the recent respiratory virus currently experienced in China and India is not a repeat of COVID-19.
The virus, identified as human metapneumovirus , has seen cases surging across Chinese provinces this winter, particularly among children. The outbreak comes five years after the world was first alerted to the emergence of the coronavirus in Wuhan China, which later turned into a global pandemic with seven million deaths reported worldwide.“What we are seeing is infection happening by multiple viruses but all of them are known, especially the one that has just hit the news in the last few days. We call it the human metapneumovirus which is just a virus that normally causes a cold.
Meanwhile, the government says it is keeping a close eye on developments on the respiratory virus outbreak.