Advertisement

Updated October 18th, 2021 at 08:01 IST

Imported COVID-19 cases, risk of influenza pose 'Twindemic' threat in China

Since March 2021, influenza cases in southern and northern provinces have remained at an all-time high compared with the last year along with COVID-19 cases.

Reported by: Zaini Majeed
COVID-19
IMAGE: AP/Pixabay | Image:self
Advertisement

China’s National Health Commission on Sunday, October 17 warned of the looming potential “twindemic” this winter with COVID-19 cases doubled with an influenza outbreak. The PRC issued alerts about influenza and rolled out a set of health safety measures and prevention strategies as flu cases in the southern provinces spiked since September end, Global Times reported.  Beijing has been struggling to contain the imported COVID-19 cases within the country driven by the new variants.  Health officials now fear that the winter will witness an upsurge in the flu as well as the coronavirus cases putting the healthcare systems under strain. 

Since March 2021, the influenza cases in the southern and northern provinces have remained at an all-time high compared with last year, particularly during the autumn and winter that witness an uptick of seasonal influenza infections. “Respiratory infectious diseases such as influenza can be combined and bring a potential “twindemic” during this upcoming winter and the next spring,” state-run Global Times reported citing the National Health Commission. 

High incidence of respiratory infections expected in winters

Before the autumns set in, China's central Hubei province announced mass COVID-19 testing for all its residents in Wuhan city where initial cases of the pandemic were reported last year. The city authorities conducted rigorous testing and tracing on nearly the entire population of about 11 million Chinese residents to curb the instances of cluster outbreaks from the hypervirulent strain of the coronavirus—delta that first wreaked havoc in India. Similar protocols were instated across the tourist destination of Zhangjiajie in the Chinese Central Hunan province and Zhuzhou city, where about 2 million people were asked to undergo COVID-19 tests to ensure the safety of the citizens. 

"Autumn and winter are the two seasons with a high incidence of respiratory infections such as influenza," Global Times stated, adding that the health commission released a notification to strengthen the defenses against the respiratory ailment as the winters set in. This, the newspaper stated, is combined with "the risk of imported COVID-19 cases of new variants that will bring more uncertainties this winter." The Chinese government has enforced stringent monitoring and early warning mechanisms to curb disease outbreaks. it has also brought the focus back on standardizing epidemic treatment and extensive publicity and mobilization. 

Advertisement

Published October 18th, 2021 at 08:01 IST

Your Voice. Now Direct.

Send us your views, we’ll publish them. This section is moderated.

Advertisement
Advertisement

Trending Quicks

Eknath Shinde
3 minutes ago
Inflation and growth
4 minutes ago
CUET
5 minutes ago
UP: Man Burned Alive By In-Laws in Mathura, Probe On
7 minutes ago
Diljit Dosanjh
11 minutes ago
mallikarjun kharge, lalu yadav
16 minutes ago
UN
18 minutes ago
Ravichandran Ashwin
24 minutes ago
Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar
27 minutes ago
National Mall, Washington DC
30 minutes ago
Wall Street news
31 minutes ago
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Whatsapp logo