New Delhi: China has been grappling with an unknown flu-like virus that has stretched their hospitals and crematoriums to the brim. According to reports coming in, the virus is as deadly and as virulent as the COVID variants that people believe had originated from Beijing in 2019-2020. The virus, called HMPV, also known for causing ‘white lung’ conditions, is what may be causing this sudden drive in number of cases.There has been a chatter around the HMPV making its presence felt in China, but the situation was so far not known to be as worse as it appears for the moment. People from the country have been posting videos of hospitals and crematoriums and the footfalls there paint a scary picture. An X user took to the site to write, “China is facing a surge in multiple viruses, including Influenza A, HMPV, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and Covid-19, overwhelming hospitals and crematoriums.” The same post also went on to add that the situation was particularly worse in  children’s hospitals.It is not just the HMPV that is the reason for worry, in fact it is a cocktail of viruses that is doing the rounds in the country. It is this rapid spread of the viruses, some of them unknown to us, that may be driving the surge. Experts have claimed that China has since declared a state of emergency due to the virulence of the HMPV virus in particular. The virus is typically known for causing flu-like symptoms, mostly similar to those of Covid-19. This has what has prompted health officials to closely monitor the situation.A ‘Reuters’ report has also stated that China’s disease control authority is busy piloting a “new system to monitor pneumonia cases of unknown origin.” This monitoring system has been out in place to improve readiness to handle emerging pathogens. Is this another way for Chinese authority to confirm the presence of a new pathogen in the country. If yes, how dangerous is the HMPV?The same report has confirmed the spread of the disease in various parts of China – “Data from Dec 16-22 indicates a rise in acute respiratory infections, including hMPV, particularly in northern provinces. Recent cases have predominantly involved individuals under 14 years of age,” Reuters reported.What we know about the HMPVIn medical parlance, the HMPV is an RNA virus which specifically belongs to the Pneumoviridae, Metapneumovirus genus and was first detected in 2001 by a couple of Dutch researchers who found it accidentally while studying samples of children with respiratory infections. The HMPV may have been around for six decades but its virulence is only steadily growing. This is the reason for concern of health authorities globally.According to the CDC website, the HMPV is known as a common respiratory pathogen that mainly spreads in droplets, through coughing and sneezing. Like COVID variants, the transmission for this pathogen may also occur due to close contact with the infected people and exposure to contaminated environments. The virus is typically said to have an incubation period of three to five days and the immune response induced by HMPV is too weak to stop repeated infections.It is known to be fatal in young children and in patients who are immunocompromised. The WHO data revealed that HMPV has been responsible for causing deaths in about 1 per cent of children who have weak immune system or are already dealing with medical conditions.Although the state of emergency in the country is unknown, the monitoring system being put in place and the surge of fly patients in the hospitals paint a grim picture. What is expected out of China is absolute transparency on the monitoring of the HMPV virus and containing its spread beyond the boundaries.For the moment, it seems like, one must get back to the hygiene system that we used to follow during the COVID outbreak – wearing masks, washing hands and maintaining a social distance is a good practise to keep viruses away, particularly in winter months.