Rising cases of common respiratory illnesses in China and elsewhere around the Northern Hemisphere are within the range expected for winter, with no unusual outbreaks reported, the World Health Organization said.

As respiratory diseases enter a peak period in winter, multiple foreign media outlets have been exaggerating reports of a surge in human metapneumovirus (HMPV) cases in China, claiming that it has overwhelmed local hospitals.

As China continues to monitor an increase in cases of human metapneumovirus (HMPV), here's what you need to know about the illness.

China has not declared a state of emergency. PolitiFact checked multiple Chinese and U.S. government websites and found no public health emergency announcements. One of the respiratory viruses social media posts are spotlighting is human metapneumovirus, or HMPV, which was discovered in 2001. It causes coldlike symptoms and most cases are mild.

The World Health Organization has urged China to share data to help understand the origins of Covid-19, five years on from the start of the pandemic in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

China has responded after the World Health Organization ( WHO) again urged it to disclose data that could shed more light on the origins of COVID-19, which killed over 7 million people worldwide. Newsweek reached out to the WHO by email with a request for comment.

The posts are mostly false. Chinese authorities have reported an increase in some respiratory infections, but the increases are in line with seasonal trends and no state of emergency has been declared.

First discovered in 2001, HMPV is a “common virus that circulates in winter and spring”, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). China and other countries in Asia have seen an uptick in cases involving the respiratory virus in recent weeks,

The World Health Organization has said that the metapneumovirus (hMPV) that caused the outbreak in China is not a new virus, as it was discovered more than 20 years ago. This virus with an updated name circulates in the winter and spring,

The World Health Organization says it has been confirmed that acute respiratory infections caused by human metapneumovirus, or HMPV, are spreading in China. However, a WHO spokesperson suggested there is little cause for concern.

The pictures emerging are arresting: a hospital waiting room in Beijing, full of masked patients apparently attached to drips; crowds of mask-wearing commuters making their way through the city. If it all seems unnervingly familiar,