UNITED NATIONS – A recent increase in respiratory illnesses in China is a common issue faced by all countries, and the Chinese authorities have it under effective control, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Nov 29.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) last week requested that China provide detailed information on an increase in respiratory illnesses and reported clusters of pneumonia in children.

But a WHO official said on Nov 27 that the spike in illnesses in China is not as high as before the Covid-19 pandemic, and reiterated that no new or unusual pathogens had been found in the recent cases.

Mr Wang said: “Recently, we have seen some clusters of flu cases among children in certain parts of China.

“In fact, that is a very common phenomenon in many countries, and in China that has been put under effective control,” he told reporters at the United Nations in New York, where he is chairing a UN Security Council session on the Israel-Hamas conflict.

“China’s interactions with the international community will not be affected by any factors, and we welcome more visits from friends from across the world.”

Both China and the WHO have faced questions about the transparency of reporting on the earliest Covid-19 cases that were first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019. REUTERS