I'm going to start my conversation joining me on The Telecast is Andrew KP Leong he joins me from Hong Kong and Mr long what exactly is happening on the ground because obviously International media does not have access to what's happening in the hospitals and chromator in China but there are a number of these visuals that have appeared on social media where we are seeing that there is large number of cues of people who are in the hospital hospitals that the crematoriums are overburdened uh there is this new virus that is doing the rounds which is
hmpv and it is particularly targeting younger people well first of all I'm not um a scientist or a physician um but I I I Googled it I I found it um the the information surrounding this uh so-call virus uh and it is as you you said is is called um human meta uh numo uh virus but actually it was not a new virus it was discovered first um in the world in 2001 in the Netherlands um and then it Bears very close resemblance uh with the common flu um and you can see that people are
affected uh they coughing and and then um some people short of breath and and then sneezing um and then mostly the symptoms would pass away in in in about um a week to 10 days um so very similar to the um um the common code uh the the fact is that of course it affects the the upper uh respiratory uh track and then for people uh with a weaker Constitution particularly younger people under the age of 14 uh and also elderly people uh like myself know I I got a Cod and sort of something something
similar very similar to that a couple of um uh weeks ago um but then uh during the winter time um especially the um trans transitioning from Summer to Winter and every year everywhere it's the same I mean Hong Kong and of course during the past many many years during this uh weather lots of people flocking to the hospitals suffering from cold and and the kind of um um the the the similar kind of uh virus and now of course there is no cure for the common cor either um but not to downplay the importance of
this of course uh learning from the experience of the um Corona virus I think the Chinese government has been uh on the alert and they are uh following this uh with test and and so on um but I don't think that there is any Panic uh as uh some people reports um some reports trying to put it um in fact the same kind of virus I found this on the internet uh Al also happened in the United States in 20 um 2023 in March okay if you can Google that you can find it happening so
I think that this is by no means a new virus uh it is of course it is more severe than before it's affecting the people with but is it true that the number of cases are rapidly Rising is it is it true that there are number of cases that are rapidly Rising particularly in the northern province of China no I think that this um um also because visuals that are the hospitals and crematoriums at this point of time overburdened because the only way of finding out is is is I don't know if if if a
chinese official were to make such statements it would be because the world will take it with a pinch of salt wow um I think that the um you can you can Google that that that's the that's the not a new virus it's been around for for for over two decades uh and it happened in the United States in March 2003 2023 okay um and then um during the it happens during the the the change of the seasons it's affecting a lot of people um not only in in in on the mainland but also in Hong
Kong and elsewhere um but of course this is a um um much more severe uh and I said the Chinese government is is is following this uh the center for for Disease Control and prevention as following this very closely but there's no Panic I don't think that
