Cases of the Human Metapneumovirus, HMPV, have significantly increased across northern Chinese provinces in recent days, mainly among children.

The country’s centre for disease control has warned people to take precautions with health and hygiene, but has also pushed back against online claims of overwhelmed hospitals and fears of another Covid-like pandemic.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Mao Ning on Friday, said respiratory infections tend to peak during the winter season.

Findings by Ekwutosblog reveals that Human metapneumovirus, HMPV, is a respiratory disease that causes flu or cold-like symptoms, but can increase risks or lead to more serious complications like bronchitis or pneumonia, particularly among the elderly, young children, and immunocompromised people.

HMPV typically causes symptoms similar to the common cold, including a cough, runny nose or nasal congestion, a sore throat and a fever that clears after around five days.

Ekwutosblog gathered that more severe symptoms such as bronchitis, bronchiolitis and pneumonia can occur, with sufferers experiencing shortness of breath, severe cough or wheezing.

HMPV is in the same family as respiratory syncytial virus, RSV, and has been around since at least 2001 when it was first identified in the Netherlands. Its outbreaks are concentrated during colder seasons.

According to an expert in vaccine immunology at Imperial College London, Professor John Tregoning, the disease has very similar symptoms in children at least to respiratory syncytial virus, RSV, which usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms.

“It is part of the cocktail of winter viruses that we are exposed to and, like other viruses, it will transmit in coughs, sneezes and in droplets.

“Protecting yourself by being in well-ventilated spaces, covering your mouth when you cough and washing your hands will all help,” Professor Tregoning said.

Similarly, a professor of international health at Curtin University in Australia, Jaya Dantas, emphasised the need to use a cautious and measured approach, as it was since the Covid pandemic.

“We need to get tested, stay home and away from others, wear a mask in public and protect our most vulnerable.

“In young children, the elderly and those who are immune compromised, HMPV can lead to severe cases and can move to the lower respiratory tract and may lead to pneumonia,” he said.

In the same vein, an expert in infectious diseases at the University of East Anglia, Professor Paul Hunter, said that almost every child will have at least one infection with HMPV by their fifth birthday, adding that there is expectation of having multiple re-infections throughout life.

“It is one of the leading viral causes of respiratory infections in children under five-year-olds. In England, we have seen a fairly marked increase in recent weeks.’

“One of the issues involved in these types of infection is that they are being diagnosed more frequently, so it is not always easy to know whether, year-on-year, increases are due to actual increases or just because we are diagnosing a greater proportion of infections,” he added.

Ekwutosblog reports that the Federal Government of Nigeria said it would activate surveillance measures for inbound passengers from China following the current increase of a respiratory virus.

According to reports, the emergence of the virus has resulted in overcrowded hospitals, emergency measures and public concerns in China.

The virus has seen cases surging across northern Chinese provinces this winter, especially among children.

Reports indicate that neighbouring countries such as Cambodia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong are closely monitoring the HMPV situation, having reported a few cases but no widespread outbreaks.

The Chinese authorities said there has been a noticeable increase in HMPV cases, especially among children under 14 years old in northern parts of the country.

Reacting to the spike,the Chinese government announced measures, including constant monitoring of cases, the adoption of masks, social distancing and disinfection of public spaces to curb the increase of the virus.

Ekwutosblog reports that HMPV outbreak is coming five years after the emergence of a novel coronavirus – COVID-19 – in Wuhan, China, which was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation on March 11, 2020.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, had said that the country is at moderate risk for Human Metapneumovirus, HMPV.

The agency, in a public health advisory, said the Federal Government was closely monitoring the outbreak of the virus and taking safety measures to boost the country’s preparedness and response capacity.

According to the agency, it had conducted a risk assessment for the HMPV in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health and partners such as the World Health Organization, WHO, the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, USCDC, and the UK Health Security Agency, UKHSA.

“The assessment classified the risk of HMPV for Nigeria as moderate.

“This evaluation will inform and guide preparedness efforts, decision-making, and response strategies to mitigate potential impacts,” it said.

The NCDC dismissed the claims in some quarters that the World Health Organisation, WHO, had declared HMPV a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, PHEIC, describing the rumour as false and should be disregarded.

“The WHO has not made such a declaration. Recent reports indicate a significant rise in Human Metapneumovirus, HMPV cases in China, as well as increased respiratory infections linked to HMPV in countries such as the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, particularly during the winter season.

“The UK Health Security Agency, UKHSA, has highlighted a notable rise in hospital admissions due to HMPV-related complications, especially among children under five and older adults in care homes. This trend emphasizes the need for heightened preparedness and vigilance,” it said.

Speaking, the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, Jide Idris said the country is not under any threat for now, assuring Nigerians that while there have been concerns over the outbreak of the virus in certain parts of the world, the country is safe and there is no cause for alarm.

“Let me say, there’s no serious threat for now. That’s one. Two, this HMPV virus, it’s not a new virus. It’s just that it’s not well-known. But it’s been implicated in many respiratory infections over the years, over the countries, especially in children, and elderly people.

“Just like the normal flu, old virus or influenza, respiratory virus, it’s just one of those causes of respiratory problems,” he stated.

According to him, the country is monitoring the situation and is on high alert with no cases reported in Nigeria yet, saying avoiding overcrowded places, washing hands, and others are part of measures against the disease.

“We are in a monitoring and alert phase, and that’s why again we take instructions from WHO globally because every country is supposed to report cases like this, any case; any problem to WHO – those things that they consider might become global problems later so that they can alert every other country to get prepared,” he said on the breakfast show.

“That’s precisely what we are doing in Nigeria. We’ve experienced some major problems – we had Ebola, and we had COVID. With those two, we developed some capabilities. We learned our lessons and put infrastructures in place.

“So we’ve got public health infrastructures. These are things you need to put in place in expectation of things like this so that you don’t have to start running helter-skelter,” he said.

Meanwhile, stakeholders have pledged to boost surveillance, public health communication, and collaboration to prevent the spread of the virus in the country.

They made the pledge at the strategic meeting on HMPV preparedness and response, which was organised by the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, in Abuja.

According to the World Health Organisation, WHO, while some cases can be hospitalised with bronchitis or pneumonia, most people infected with HMPV have mild upper respiratory symptoms similar to the common cold and recover after a few days.

The Director General of NEMA, Zubaida Umar, while speaking at the meeting, said the rising cases of HMPV sound like a stark reminder that a public health emergency recognises no borders as a health threat in one country has the potential to impact nations across continents.

Represented by the Director of Planning, Research and Forecasting, NEMA, Onimode Bandele, the DG-NEMA said, while Nigeria is not directly affected at the moment, proactive planning, preparedness, and collaboration are essential to safeguarding our citizens and mitigating any potential risk.

“NEMA in fulfillment of the mandate to coordinate disaster preparedness, mitigation, and response across Nigeria remains committed to ensuring effective collaboration, timely response, and resilience in the face of emergencies.

“In line with these mandates, NEMA aims to share insight and updates on the current situation and its potential implications for Nigeria; assess our collective preparedness and response capability at national, state, and local levels; strengthen collaboration and coordination amongst all relevant stakeholders to ensure an aligned and effective response strategy; and identify actionable steps that can be implemented immediately to enhance surveillance, monitoring, and readiness across critical sectors,” she stated.

Also speaking, a Director in the Department of Public Health at the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Chidinma Agbai underscored the need to implement measures that could quickly address future disease outbreaks.

“All hands must be on deck. If all hands are on deck, we’ll be able to secure the borders of Nigeria. And ensure that whoever is coming in with the virus will be nipped in the bud and treated as well.

“We have to put the right measures in place to ensure that whenever any case of COVID-19 variant or HMPV comes, we will be able to arrest it at the point of entry,” she said.

On her part, the representative of the Director of Port Health Services, Dr Rasheedat Abdullateef, listed a major assessment that was completed last year, resulting in the designation of additional points of interest to expand the capacity to respond to public health emergencies.

“We have good synergies with the Civil Society Organisations, immigration service, Customs Service, among others. We are planning, training, and retraining on Infection Prevention and Control.

“We are expanding this beyond the health sector and looking at a more multi-sectoral approach that would be effective to support the overall implementation of this plan,” she stated.

The Deputy Director of Health and Social Care at the National Orientation Agency, Simon Idoko, emphasised the need to address the circulated rumors about the virus.

“We need to be familiar with the virus, this is an acute respiratory virus and not a variant of COVID-19. As we do normally, we always get advice from the NCDC.

“We are all sharing that, it’s building the information for the nation every day. So we’ll wait for an answer in this room, but we’ll be back in two and a half hours,” he added.