|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Claim: An X user @COVID19_disease has alleged that China has declared a state of emergency over multiple viruses, including COVID-19 and Influenza A, that are “spreading rapidly.”
Verdict: False. DUBAWA’s research showed that the Asian nation had not declared a state of emergency over multiple virus infections, such as COVID-19 and influenza A, as alleged. An analysis of news reports reveals that the major news on China as of Jan. 1, 2025, is a World Health Organisation (WHO) request for the country to share its COVID-19 origin data. No credible local or international media organisation has reported a multiple virus outbreak in the Asian country.
Full Text
An X user @COVID19_disease has alleged China has declared a state of emergency over multiple viruses, including COVID-19 and Influenza A, that are “spreading rapidly.”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) office in China reported a pneumonia-like virus in Wuhan in December 2019 that caused high fevers and shortness of breath.
The WHO identified the “virus as a novel type of coronavirus similar to the deadly SARS virus that swept through Asia from 2002-2004” after testing the Wuhan samples. The first Chinese to contract the virus reportedly died on Jan. 11, 2020.
The virus spread to the rest of the world, killing an estimated 7.08 million people as of Dec. 15, 2024, Ourworldindata reported.
Exactly two years after the Xi Jinping-led Chinese government eased the country’s COVID-19 restrictions in Dec. 2022, an X user has alleged the Asian nation has declared another state of emergency over COVID-19 and other viruses.
“BREAKING: China declares state of emergency as epidemic overwhelms hospitals and crematoriums. Multiple viruses, including Influenza A, HMPV, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and COVID-19, are spreading rapidly across China,” the X user wrote on Jan. 1, 2025.
DUBAWA’s search showed that precisely six hours after the X post, an online news portal, EconoTimes, published a similar story.
According to Whois.com, the website was created on June 03, 2015, and updated on Nov. 02, 2024. The registry has revealed that the domain’s registrant stays in the United States. However, the online news portal has a history of publishing rumours and recycling past news reports. See here.
The social media data showed that as of Jan. 2, 2025, the post had received over 2.9 million views, 1,643 comments, 5,7344 reposts, 6,342 likes, and 2,342 bookmarks.
Reacting to the post, an X user @jguzFL wrote:
“I could find no reports verifying this post pertains to our current day. Instead, I came across only reports dated 2022 and 2023 on this subject matter. Please do the right thing and either post a link to a report published by a credible news outlet that will confirm the veracity of the claim made via this post or delete it.
Another X user @Teheimar quizzed: Is there some regional or official source for that?
DUBAWA decided to probe the claim due to its virality on social media platforms in Ghana.
Verification
DUBAWA’s investigation showed that the Asian nation had not declared a state of emergency over multiple virus infections, such as COVID-19 and influenza A, as alleged.
An analysis of multiple local and international news reports reveals that the major news on China as of Jan. 1, 2025, is a World Health Organisation (WHO) request for the country to share its COVID-19 origin data with the world.
The global health body has explained that the call on the Chinese administration to share its COVID-19 data is a “moral and scientific imperative. Without transparency, sharing, and cooperation among countries, the world cannot adequately prevent and prepare for future epidemics and pandemics.”
See media reports on the WHO’s request here, here, here, and here.
However, no credible local or international media organisation, including state-run China Global Television Network (CGTN), has reported the purported multiple virus outbreak in the Asian country.
The findings of DUBAWA’s Google keyword search revealed that media reports about Chinese hospitals and crematoriums being overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients date to 2022 and 2023 when the country was working to contain the pandemic.
You can find media reports about the country’s morgue, hospitals, and crematoriums being overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients here, here, here, here, here, and here.
China announced a “decisive victory” over the COVID-19 pandemic in Dec. 2022 after treating nearly 200 million people, including 800,000 severe cases in Feb. 2023.
The Xi Jinping-led Chinese government eased the country’s COVID-19 restrictions.
Media reports about the country’s relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions can be found here, here, here, here, and here.
Also, there is no official report from the WHO or the Chinese government about the purported outbreak of multiple viruses.
Conclusion
China has not declared a state of emergency over multiple virus infections, such as COVID-19 and influenza A, as alleged.
