Flu in South Africa being re-designated ‘Covid-19’ – it’s happening the world over

Hi David and team,

Just to add to your evidence about flu being rebranded as COVID-19, I did some research into the statistics here in South Africa. My findings are briefly summarised below:

Around 20,000 South Africans died from influenza and pneumonia in 2016. in 2014 it was over 23,000. 40,000 people in South Africa are hospitalized each year from influenza alone.

So far this year, according to official data, influenza has been virtually non-existent and so has RSV (another pathogen that causes flu-like symptoms). Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise.

Moreover, the flu season usually starts in May, the same time that COVID-19 cases began to sharply increase.

Is this just a coincidence?

No. Regular influenza and other respiratory infections such as RSV have simply been re-classified as ‘COVID-19’.

So far, around 5000 people have died of COVID-19, less than a quarter of the number of deaths we usually see from influenza/pneumonia each year.

Sources:

https://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P03093/P030932016.pdf

https://www.businessinsider.co.za/lockdown-is-curbing-sas-flu-season-2020-5

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/south-africa/

https://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/countries/southafrica/what/influenza.htm