If reports are to be believed then Bayannur, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has announced a level III warning of plague prevention and control, according to the state-run People's Daily Online quoted in the news agency PTI report.
The case of a suspected bubonic plague case was reported on Saturday by a hospital in Bayannur. After the case is reported, the local health authority announced that the warning period will continue until the end of 2020.
"At present, there is a risk of a human plague epidemic spreading in this city. The public should improve its self-protection awareness and ability, and report abnormal health conditions promptly," the local health authority said.
In fact, on July 1, two suspected cases of bubonic plague reported in Khovd province in western Mongolia have been confirmed by lab test results, as per the state-run Xinhua news agency has announced.
It has affected a 27-year-old resident and his 17-year-old brother, who are being treated at two separate hospitals in their province. They fell ill after consuming marmot meat following which the authorities have now warned people not to eat marmot meat.
Of the 146 people who had contact with them have been isolated and treated at local hospitals.
The news of bubonic plague came after Chinese researchers issued an early warning over another potential pandemic caused by an influenza virus in pigs.
What is Bubonic plague?
Bubonic plague is a bacterial disease that is spread by fleas living on wild rodents such as marmots. It can kill an adult in less than 24 hours if not treated in time, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
What are concerns raised?
A couple died of bubonic plague in the western Mongolian province of Bayan-Ulgii last year after eating raw marmot meat.
Scientists from China Agricultural University, the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and other institutes detected a pig influenza virus bearing genotype 4 (G4), which is contagious among pigs and has the possibility of jumping to humans, as the G4 virus is able to bind with human cells, state-run Global Times reported last week.
The researchers are concerned that it could mutate further so that it can spread easily from person to person, and trigger a global outbreak.
"Controlling the prevailing G4 EA H1N1 viruses in pigs and close monitoring in human populations, especially workers in the swine industry, should be urgently implemented," Chinese researchers warned in the paper.
The new diseases were reported even as China grappled with the second attack of COVID-19 in Beijing after controlling it in Wuhan where it was first reported in December last year.
China Covid status
Beijing, which is trying to reign in the resurgence of coronavirus, has now reported a single-digit Covid-19 case and the number of newly confirmed cases reached a peak in Beijing on June 13 and 14 and before declining as per the news agency. From June 11 to July 4, the city reported 334 confirmed locally transmitted cases, 47 per cent of whom are workers of the Xinfadi wholesale food market, the official said.
Meanwhile, memes are flooding the social media while some users asking what's more in store for 2020?
Even Anand Mahindra could not stop himself from reacting: