LONDON (Reuters) -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.

The World Health Organization has released a statement on the reported outbreak of human metapneumovirus in China and elsewhere.

Professor Paul Hunter from the University of East Anglia notes that almost every child contracts HMPV by five years of age, with reinfections occurring throughout life. “HMPV typically causes cold-like symptoms that recover by themselves within 2 to 5 days. Severe cases are rare but can occur in vulnerable groups,” he says.

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.

As cases of the HMPV virus continue to increase in the U.S. and in China, here's what you need to know about the virus.

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.

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 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,

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it has not observed any unusual outbreak patterns in China as the reported number of acute respiratory infections there is still within the expected range for the winter season.

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,