A mystery illness that has plagued China is now spreading in Europe for the first time.
The symptoms have now been made public.
The strange Covid-like Pneumonia virus has been causing chaos in China for weeks, with the world on high alert over fears a new pandemic could be on the way.
It saw officials in other countries such as neighbouring India, who are wary of another virus spreading through their population following the outbreak of the Coronavirus in 2019, readying themselves for action.
A big surge in respiratory diseases has knocked China, with Beijing hospitals overrun after a massive increase in hospitalisations. Some Indian states are now preparing their own health services to brace for the virus as a result.
Medical officials in both Denmark and Holland have confirmed that the virus has taken hold there, with the latter confirming that the number of children – whom it mainly impacts – aged between five and 14 to get it has risen to 130 per 100,000 in just one week.
That is more than double the normal amount of Winter flu-like illnesses for this time of year on average.
Denmark has also reported an increase of three times the amount, from 168 to 541 in the space of five weeks, with senior Statens Serum Institute researchers Hanne-Dorthe Emborg, stating: “In the past five weeks, the number of new cases has increased significantly, and we are now seeing significantly more cases than usual, and that there is widespread infection throughout the country.”
After weeks of mystery, the three key symptoms of the mystery virus have now been revealed and are: sore throat, fatigue, Lingering cough that can last for weeks or months.
Maria Van Kerkhove, acting director of the WHO’s department of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, said: “We asked about comparisons prior to the pandemic. And the waves that they’re seeing now, the peak is not as high as what they saw in 2018-2019.
“This is not an indication of a novel pathogen. This is expected. This is what most countries dealt with a year or two ago.”
