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Disinfo: Anybody dying today is listed as a victim of the pandemic

Summary

Anybody dying today with even a trace of Corona virus in their system is automatically listed as a victim of the pandemic, so publicly cited statistics could be made to look more intimidating.

Disproof

Conspiracy theory.

There is no evidence to suggest that the statistics about COVID-19 cases and mortality rate are manipulated to exaggerate the numbers. The World Health Organisation has recently issued  classification guidelines for certification and classification of COVID-19 as the cause of death.

COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation on 11 March, acknowledging that the virus had become a global phenomenon. Before that date, the situation was being described as an epidemic, illustrating that the virus had already spread to many people, and many communities, at the same time. As of 14 April, the total number of COVID-19 cases had passed 1.7 million.

COVID-19 comes from a family of viruses originating in animals that include other viruses such as SARS and MERS. It was first reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan in central China and has been rapidly spreading across the world, with cases being reported in over 190 countries, territories and areas. The number of COVID-19 global deaths has now passed 90,000.

See similar disinformation narrative alleging that the COVID-19 crisis is manufactured by media.

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publication/media

strategic-culture.org
  • Reported in: Issue 193
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 11/04/2020
  • Language/target audience: English
  • Country: US
  • Keywords: coronavirus, Conspiracy theory

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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The West plans to attack China financially for the coronavirus outbreak just as it did to Russia

The Western world and its satellites added China to the group of countries which are demanded to pay trillions of dollars in compensation and reparations. Previously, the reasons behind compensation from Russia included the partition of Poland, Crimea, MH17, the Kuril islands, the Skripal and Yukos cases, global warming due to  Russian oil and gas, the Nord Stream, Donbas, interference in elections in the US, UK, Montenegro, Madagascar, etc.

The absurd blame that the West attempts to put on China is the following: If China had not censored information on the coronavirus epidemic and informed about its development more quickly, the Western countries would be better prepared for it and would not have had as high death tolls and would not bear as much economic loss as they have experienced. Class actions against China for covering up information in the early stages of epidemic will likely get political support from the US administration. Putting the blame for its own mistakes on external enemies is a normal tactic that the US and others used earlier against Russia and other countries.

The legal nihility of such actions will not undermine their judicial prospects. The UK’s government may apply the same secret weapon against China that it previously used against Russia, the “highly likely” implication. It is used by London instead of any concrete proof behind the crimes that Moscow is blamed for. The West has either already found, or will soon find, Chinese Browder and Khodorkovsky who would be used in attempts to squeeze trillions of dollars from China. The stunt with class actions will be used as a pretext to introduce anti-Chinese economic sanctions.

April 20, 2020
Disproof

This is a recurrent conspiracy trope, consistent with recurring pro-Kremlin propaganda narratives about Russophobia and the West's deliberate anti-Russian activities, which is applied to China. It attempts to ridicule various Russia-related cases by bundling various incidents together. It mixes up cases where strong facts exist proving Russian implication (MH17 shooting, Skripal cases, Donbas invasion, etc.) with non-existent alleged claims such as compensation for constructing Nord Stream or for global warming.

So far, at least four federal class-action lawsuits have been filed in the US against the Chinese government that aim to recover trillions of dollars in damages for what plaintiffs allege is China's failure to contain the coronavirus outbreak and notify the international community about its danger. Legal experts believe the chance of these actions leading to any actual recoveries is slim.

Coronavirus has proven the weakness of West’s military organisation, Russia prevails

Large numbers of coronavirus infections in the US and other NATO countries military point at the weak military organisation of the collective West. The US interrupted the service of its two aircraft carriers in the Pacific due to the epidemic. Many NATO military programs and exercises, including Defender Europe 2020, stopped due to identification of 5 coronavirus cases in the NATO headquarters in Belgium. High-ranking military officers are diagnosed with coronavirus in Poland and Italy. The situation is aggravating in the NATO battalions located in Lithuania and Latvia. UK and Greek military were also affected. In contrast, the Russian army runs a system of epidemiological protection which allows Russia to implement all military plans as scheduled. Earlier Russia’s Defence Minister noted  that the Russian army has no coronavirus cases.

 

 

April 20, 2020
Disproof

This is part of recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about coronavirus and alleged disintegration of the EU, NATO and other Western bodies.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic NATO's essential work continues and its ability to conduct operations remains intact. The European Union is supporting the Member States in addressing the crisis and mitigating the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The New York Times blames Putin for US health system collapse in face of novel coronavirus

The US keeps breaking negative records of infected and deaths from coronavirus, but instead of blaming the US health system or the lack of measures adopted by the authorities at the beginning of the pandemic, the New York Times is already pointing to Putin. According to the newspaper, over the decades the Russian president has made the collapse of the US health system and the loss of confidence of Americans in their doctors his personal motivation, undermining the healthcare month after month and year after year through anti-vaccination campaigns and other strategies until its final collapse. The article uses arguments such as that the Kremlin envies the number of Nobel Prizes awarded to US scientists so it tried to destroy its foundations. The fact that this kind of articles always point to Russia after a concrete problem exploded suggests that their aim is to find a scapegoat and divert attention from the real causes.

April 20, 2020
Disproof

This is a deliberate distortion of the original New York Times article, which doesn’t blame Russian President Vladimir Putin for an alleged collapse of the US health system in face of the coronavirus crisis, nor says that he has a personal motivation in provoking this collapse. Rather, it affirms that Russia has been promoting an anti-vaccination stance in the West and other public health disinformation issues for a long time and that Moscow’s aim is to portray American officials as downplaying the health alarms and thus posing serious threats to public safety. The NYTimes article also exposes the techniques used by the Kremlin to spread disinformation on health issues for over a decade, such as interviews in RT with experts that repeatedly claimed falsely that H1N1 flu or Ebola virus were bioengineered, among others.

The Kremlin’s long-standing efforts to seed distrust in vaccination abroad have been well documented by EUvsDisinfo and other researchers, such as the George Washington University and Georgia’s National Centre for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC).