Thread by @DaniNovaramaEn

This post will surprise you. You’ll think I am nuts, it took me some time to decide to write all of this down. Please read til the end, there’s links all along so you can fact check everything. Please share it, so truth is spread. It's about coronavirus. Enter thread:

I travel a lot. Specifically, I go to China frequently: it’s the largest video game market in the world. I do Chinajoy every summer, the largest game fair in the world, in Shanghai. Here’s a picture of me so you see this is true.

Thus, I know the country well. I have been to Wuhan many times, it’s 4 hours by train from Shanghai. Right outside Hankou station is the Huanan Wet Market. The local delicacy is what they call “wild taste” (ye wei, 野味 in Chinese), which means everything…

... from foxes, snakes, beavers (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huanan_Se…). That’s coronavirus’ ground zero. It seems it all began in a shellfish stand, which also sold snakes. These are used to make snake soup (photo below). And the rest is history.

Ok, different subject: last year, after half a century, China abolished the one-child policy. As you know, China has a huge overpopulation (1.5 billion people).
history.com/this-day-in-hi…

The one-child policy did not stop growth. As you can see in the graph, population still rose. And now, with the broadening of its middle class, China urgently needs to reduce its population, to be less people and richer as well. By whatever means possible.

Back to Wuhan. It is one of the “3 Furnaces”, the hottest cities in China (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Fur…). It’s the ideal environment for a virus breakout. Very centric, all capitals of China (Shanghai, Beijing, Chongking and Guangdong) are within 4 hours by train.

Clearly, a virus that appeared in Wuhan would spread like wildfire: it is a city the size of New York, with warm weather, and trains that connect it with the whole country. So all we need is a spark. A market? No: the infection would be too easy to contain.

There's better places in Wuhan. Like the largest bioterrorism laboratory in China, which is in Wuhan. Ok, now you think I've gone crazy. But keep reading, please. And check it out here:
nature.com/news/inside-th…

This is their website: english.whiov.cas.cn. Well, let's continue: do you know who runs this lab? Shi Zheng Li. Surely it doesn't ring a bell. But she’s the one who identified SARS virus in 2003: chinadaily.com.cn/a/201712/07/WS…

You will remember SARS "only" caused a mortality of 10%. A key factor to stop it was its short incubation period (4-6 days, similar to flu). That made the virus easy to contain. This is described as the R0 factor: how many people will an existing patient infect. In SARS, R0 is 3.

Coronavirus is much more advanced: it has a silent incubation period of 14 days, which makes it a much higher R0 vector. WHO is currently trying to calculate it:
bbc.com/news/world-asi…

The 2003 SARS appeared in Guangdong, 4 hours by train south of Wuhan. Another hot and overpopulated region. Another ideal place to launch a virus to reduce population. And you will think: if this were true, the rest of the world would have done something about it.

They did. Virologists from the world over worked hard to contain the SARS. That's why it stopped. Carlo Urbani, Italian, stands out: he is the one who warned WHO of what was going on, and helped stop it. Do you know what happened to him?

Urbani died of SARS, in Bangkok. A disease that he knew perfectly, and that only had a mortality of 10%. Weird, isn’t it? As if someone wanted to get rid of the single person that could stop the virus: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Urb…

You don't believe me? Ok, what if I tell you that Coronavirus has a vaccine? It was developed to contain SARS once it left China. And it’s ready to act at this time. Here you have it: patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/31/23/d0/e63e0…

This vaccine has been developed among others by the Pirbright Institute, the people who eradicated Rinderpest, so they know what they are talking about. Will they give this vaccine to the Chinese? I really doubt it. (bbc.com/news/science-e…)

So, am I insinuating China is trying to lower its population, and that the world is preparing for when the disease crosses its borders? Yep. And I’m not the only one saying this. Check out the Times: go.shr.lc/38J7yPD. And it's not the first time. Let me explain:

Remember the poisoned baby milk scandal in 2008, which caused 300,000 victims? (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Chin…)
None of this should surprise you. But now comes the truly scary part of this story:

I've made this all up. ALL OF IT. It took me 90 minutes to prepare this post via cut and paste from Internet news. I have never been to Wuhan, and obviously I’m extremely sorry for what’s going on in China, a country I love and where I DO have many dear friends.

With this post, I wanted to demonstrate one thing: how easy it is to craft fake news in the era of information overdose. Just choose facts carefully, omit key information, and create a credible appearance. I’ll decompose all these lies one of these days.

So, what I’m saying is, a lot of what you read is false. Fake news created either by people of good faith but a tendency to conspire, or by malicious people who want to manipulate you. It's like the rumors and gossip from years ago, just way worse.

Today, fake news are used to sway public opinion. To tell us that immigrants are criminals. That gay people are sick. Reminds me of that time when an entire country was convinced that the cause of all their problems were Jews. And we all know how that ended.

Moral: check your sources. Bertrand Russell once said, "Let your opinion be based only on proven facts." Meanwhile, share the thread and play along. Pretend it is true. You will laugh, and we will make people think. Sorry for lying. I won’t do it again. Or maybe I have already.