FACT CHECK: Is China Seeking Approval To Kill 20,000 Coronavirus Patients To Stop Spread?

Earlier today, reports of how Chinese government is seeking approval to kill 20,000 coronavirus patients went viral, this prompted a fact check on the claim.

This claim is false, and was published by a fake news website, no credible media house has reported this.

On Feb. 5, 2020, the website AB-TC (aka City News) published an article that claimed Chinese officials were seeking approval from the Supreme People’s Court to start the mass killing of 20,000 people infected with the new coronavirus in an attempt to contain the disease.

The site wrote;

“China seek for court’s approval to kill the over 20,000 coronavirus patients to avoid further spread of the virus

The highest level of court in Chhina [sic], Supreme People’s Court, is expected to give an approval on Friday for the mass killing of coronavirus patients in China as sure means of controlling the spread of the deadly virus.

The State tells the court that China is on the verge of losing its health workers to Coronavirus as at least 20 health workers contract the virus daily.”

While the AB-TC website does not carry any disclaimers labeling its content as fiction, there’s a number of red flags concerning the legitimacy of this outlet’s reporting.

For starters, this website is full of junk news stories. It has reported lots of news in the past which were debunked by fact checkers to be false.

Aside the AB-TC website, no credible news outlets have published reports containing this claim. The New York Times reported on Feb. 6, 2020, that a senior official in China “ordered the authorities in the city of Wuhan to immediately round up all residents who have been infected with the coronavirus and place them in isolation, quarantine or designated hospitals.” That report, of course, made no mention of “mass killings.”

There is also no mention of this supposed court case on the The Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China website.

AB-TC is the sole source of this rumor. However, this website provided no evidence to support its claim. This website also has a history of spreading misinformation. As this claim is not supported by any other credible news reports, we’ve concluded that this report is indeed false.

This fake news is damaging at the time the world is dealing with such health emergency.