Okay, take this with some caution as it is an emerging story, but the national English daily of China (Global Times) is also reporting this. It could just be COVID-19 and poor testing, or it could be yet another outbreak.
“The death rate of this disease is much higher than the novel coronavirus. The country’s health departments are conducting comparative research into the pneumonia virus, but have yet to identify the virus,” the embassy said in a warning to Chinese citizens in the country.