Fact Check: China witnessing rising respiratory illnesses but has not declared state of emergency

Some social media users are sharing videos of crowds in the hospitals with the claim that China has declared a state of emergency. Some users on X shared the claim “BREAKING: China Declares State of Emergency as Epidemic Overwhelms Hospitals and Crematoriums. Multiple viruses, including Influenza A, HMPV, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and COVID-19, are spreading rapidly across China.”

Some users are sharing videos of crematoriums along with hospitals with captions “China has issued A STATE OF EMERGENCY All hospitals are overflowing with patients young and old over 300 deaths so far in two days. crematoriums can’t keep up. There are multiple viruses at play. Doctors are saying this is worse than it was during Covid average wait time is 12 hours before seen by a doctor.”

Here is the Archive link of the claim. 

Fact Check:

The claim is False. Though China is facing surge in respiratory illnesses, it has not declared a state of emergency.

According to Reuters report, the respiratory diseases are expected to rise during winter, prompting authorities to establish a monitoring system for pneumonia of unknown origin. The National Disease Control and Prevention Administration will establish a procedure for laboratories to report and for disease control and prevention agencies to verify and handle cases, state broadcaster CCTV reported, quoting an administration official at a news conference.

Another report by NDTV states that China is likely to be affected by various respiratory infectious diseases in winter and spring, Kan Biao, another official, said at the news conference. He said without elaborating that the overall number of cases this year would be smaller than last year. Recent cases detected include pathogens such as the rhinovirus and human metapneumovirus, with cases of the human metapneumovirus among people under the age of 14 showing an upward trend, especially in northern provinces.

According to Times of India, Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is a respiratory virus within the Paramyxoviridae family. First identified in 2001, it is one of the most common causes of respiratory infections, especially in young children, the elderly and immunocompromised individuals. Common symptoms of the infection include coughing, runny nose, fever, weakened immunity in populations, etc. There is no specific vaccination or antiviral treatment exists for HMPV.

Therefore, the claims that China declared state of emergency is False. Though there has been surge in respiratory illnesses in China, neither World Health Organisation nor China declared state of emergency.