As China continues to monitor an increase in cases of human metapneumovirus (HMPV), here's what you need to know about the illness.

In China, reports of HMPV infections have indeed been rising in recent weeks in the more northerly regions. But so have reports of all the other respiratory pathogens including seasonal flu, rhinovirus and RSV.

Authorities in Beijing have downplayed surge in cases, which comes five years after world was first alerted to emergence of Covid-19

Experts say the disease is likely not going to be the next pandemic and the worry is a result of heightened wariness for respiratory illness in a post-Covid world. HMPV is a respiratory virus that regularly circulates during cold and flu season.