Even as the world fixates on hMPV, a genuine pandemic threat is emerging in the form of H5N1 bird flu. The virus has jumped to cows and spread across the country through dairy herds, poultry farms and even zoos, infecting millions of animals and dozens of people, the vast majority of them farm workers.

And now, the human metapneumovirus, or HMPV for short, is infecting thousands of Americans around the country. The highly contagious virus, which belongs to the same group as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV),

HMPV or Human metapneumovirus has caused panic around the world as people are fearing the return of Covid-like situation.

The Chinese foreign ministry said on Friday that it had maintained close communication with the World Health Organization on respiratory diseases, when asked about cases of the human metapneumovirus (HMPV) in China.

Five years on from the first news of COVID, recent reports of an obscure respiratory virus in China may understandably raise concerns.

How worried should you be about the HMPV outbreak in China?The Independent/ Lumen5