Salvador Peiró
Epidemiologist, researcher in the Health Services and Pharmacoepidemiology Research Area of the Foundation for the Promotion of Health and Biomedical Research of the Valencian Community (FISABIO) and Director of Gaceta Sanitaria, the scientific journal of the Spanish Society of Public Health and Health Administration (SESPAS)
China was the country that withdrew its very strict covid-19 control measures the latest, measures that significantly reduced the circulation of respiratory pathogens (not only SARS-CoV-2) for a long period. It was to be expected that this autumn they would have a spike in respiratory infections of all kinds (including covid-19), as has otherwise been the case in most countries (although earlier than in China, predictably because they anticipated the withdrawal of measures with respect to mainland China).
The information available at this stage is too insufficient to assess the overall risk - if any, which is unlikely - of the current pneumonia outbreaks in China, and the WHO's action (requesting information and recommending general measures for the control of respiratory infections) seems appropriate in this context.