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video Mobile crematoriums for pets, not humans, are circulating on social media, contrary to posts claiming the Chinese government is rolling out the service to deal with “mass mortality.” Other posts Their use has been linked to what is believed to be the emergence of a deadly new disease in the country. Northern China reported an increase in undiagnosed “flu-like illness” in late 2023, but health authorities later discovered the infections were a mixture of known viruses. Mobile animal cremation services also exist in other countries.
“#MobileCremationCar The Chinese Communist Party is ready for mass death,” reads the Simplified Chinese caption of the video shared on the video-sharing platform. getter January 7, 2024.
The video shows two white vans with crematoriums installed inside.
The video is overlaid with yellow text that says, “Mobile crematoriums make a horrifying sound. If these become popular, in the future human bodies will no longer be dumped in rivers, but will simply disappear into thin air.” It's dark.
Screenshot of fake Gettr post captured on January 31, 2024The video was shared on TikTok here and here and on X, where a post claiming the van was being assembled as China faces a deadly new disease dubbed “Disease Ta.
However, the van is designed for companies that provide mobile pet cremation services.
pet crematorium
Simplified Chinese text near the end of the mistakenly shared video reads, “Crematorium specializing in pet funerals.”
“National licensing and annual inspections are available. Automatic ignition makes it easy to operate,” it adds.
video narrator To tell A crematorium has been installed in Vans manufactured by automakers Changan and Ford.
A reverse image search and keyword search turned up listings of similar models all over the place. car dealer website (Archived link here and here).
Below is a screenshot comparison Video (left) and photo (right) accidentally shared on a car dealership's website. Vehicle similarities highlighted by AFP:
Comparison of screenshots of an accidentally shared video (left) and a photo on a car dealer's website (right)The listing states that the van is designed to “handle animal carcasses without risk.” and includes Patent serial number for on-vehicle pet crematorium. The patent is available on the website of the China State Intellectual Property Office.
Mobile pet cremation services are not new. Pear Video, a Shanghai-based media outlet, reported on Hefei's cremation vans in May 2021 in a video posted on Weibo (archive link).
Reports on similar services in South Korea and India were also published in May 2019 and July 2023, respectively (archive links here and here).
“Illness X”
One of the false posts claimed that Chinese authorities had begun deploying vans because a “new disease There is.
However, “Disease
Conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones have falsely claimed that the January 2024 “Disease X” preparedness meeting was evidence of a conspiracy to intentionally cause a global health catastrophe ( Archive link).
A surge in respiratory illnesses at the end of 2023 has sparked online speculation about the threat of a new pandemic, four years after the country's first outbreak of coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
However, Chinese health authorities say the increase in cases is due to a mixture of already known viruses and that it is the country's first full-scale cold after strict coronavirus restrictions are lifted in December 2022. Said to be related to the season.
AFP has previously debunked false claims related to the surge in respiratory cases here, here and here.
