New Delhi/IBNS: India Monday reported three cases of Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) of which two are in Bengaluru and one in Ahmedabad.

The cases were detected in babies and one of them has been discharged from the hospital.

Amid increasing worry over the cases, the Centre and India's top medical body, the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), has urged people to not panic, and that "HMPV is already in circulation globally, including in India."

However, as reports of HMPV outbreak in China emerged, #Lockdown started trending on social media, with people drawing parallels between the HMPV surge and the COVID-19 outbreak that broke in 2019-2020 in China and later spread across the world becoming a wort kind of global pandemic.

In 2019, China's Wuhan reported Covid-19 cases for the first time and the virus rapidly spread to other countries.

India reported its first case of COVID-19 in January 2020 in Kerala and was among the countries worst affected by the COVID-19 outbreak after the US.

HMPV is a viral pathogen that causes respiratory infections in people of all age groups.

The virus was first discovered in 2001 and usually causes illnesses ranging from mild respiratory discomfort to severe complications, especially in vulnerable populations such as infants, older adults and individuals with weakened immune systems.