Should you be worried about the HMPV virus spreading in China?

Here is everything you need to know about the respiratory infection and why it’s very different from COVID-19.

HMPV cases have surged in China. Bethany Rae

Stephanie Nolen

Jan 8, 2025 – 2.15pm

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Reports of a surge in cases of a respiratory virus in China have evoked dark echoes of the start of the COVID-19 pandemic almost exactly five years ago.

But despite the surface similarities, this situation is very different and far less worrisome, medical experts say. The Chinese cases are reported to be infections with human metapneumovirus, known to doctors as HMPV.