No unusual or novel pathogen has been detected, and there are no reports of unusual disease presentation linked to the current surge of pneumonia being reported in North China, said Chinese health authorities responding to the World Health Organisation's (WHO) request for more details on the outbreak.
Putting a looming public fear of the clusters snowballing into a bigger outbreak, the WHO on 23 November, put out a press releases according to which, the Chinese authorities have said that the surge in illnesses in the region due to known bacterial and viral infections, for which treatments exist.
Following reports of an increase in cases of 'mystery pneumonia' among children in China, the WHO had put down an official request on 22 November asking for more detailed epidemiologic and clinical information through the International Health Regulations mechanism.
Here's everything we know so far about the situation there.