The Chinese health authorities on Thursday said that over 72,000 cases of infectious diseases were reported in the capital Beijing in the past week.
According to the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, a total of 72,475 cases of 16 notifiable infectious diseases were reported in Beijing between Nov. 20 and 26.
"The top 5 diseases were influenza, novel coronavirus infection, hand, foot and mouth disease, infectious diarrheal diseases and syphilis, accounting for 99.4% of reported cases of notifiable infectious diseases," Beijing-based daily Global Times reported, citing the center.
On Wednesday, health authorities urged citizens to take precautions following several regions, including northern Tianjin, eastern Zhejiang, and southern Guangdong, reported a surge in influenza cases.
Last week, the International Society for Infectious Diseases said that respiratory diseases and undiagnosed pneumonia are on the rise in China. Children's hospitals in Beijing and northern Liaoning are overloaded with "undetermined" pneumonia-like cases believed to have originated from bacterial infections.
