Did the World Economic Forum admit that Disease X will be "unleashed onto the public" by 2025, with "devastating" consequences for humanity? No, that's not true: Disease X is not a known disease. It's a hypothetical pathogen that health care experts are using as a placeholder to talk about and plan for unknown diseases.
The claim appeared in an article (archived here) published by The People's Voice on January 23, 2024. Titled "WEF Admits Disease X Will Be Leaked in 2025," the article began:
The World Economic Forum (WEF) has declared that 'Disease X' will be unleashed onto the public by the year 2025 - and the consequences will be devastating for humanity.
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WEF Admits Disease X Will Be Leaked in 2025
The World Economic Forum (WEF) has declared that 'Disease X' will be unleashed onto the public by the year 2025 - and the consequences will be devastating for humanity.
On January 17, 2024, the World Economic Forum hosted a panel discussion, entitled "Preparing for Disease X." That panel can be watched here.
Among the speakers was Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), which introduced the idea of "Disease X" several years ago. Around the 5:30 mark, he told the panel:
There are things that are unknown that may happen. And anything happening is a matter of when, not if. So we need to have a placeholder for that, for the diseases we don't know that may come. And that was when we gave the name Disease X.
WHO's website similarly describes Disease X as an unknown or hypothetical pathogen. Specifically, the site states:
Disease X represents the knowledge that a serious international epidemic could be caused by a pathogen currently unknown to cause human disease.
In other words, Disease X -- as an actual, known disease -- does not yet exist, and if it were to exist at some point in the future, it's impossible to know when, what form it would take, how severe it would be or how it would be transmitted to humans.
The People's Voice article cites this story (archived here) published by The Mirror on January 13, 2024, to support its claim that Disease X is expected to emerge in 2025. The Mirror reported no such fact.
The People's Voice
The People's Voice has a lengthy record of publishing false stories in the past. It describes itself as a resource "comprised of various web pages operated by Fact Checked Limited," but it has nothing to do with fact-checking.
As of this writing, its website contained a liability disclaimer, saying:
FACT CHECKED LIMITED AND/OR ITS SUPPLIERS MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE SUITABILITY, RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY, TIMELINESS, AND ACCURACY OF THE INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND RELATED GRAPHICS CONTAINED ON THE SITE FOR ANY PURPOSE. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, ALL SUCH INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND RELATED GRAPHICS ARE PROVIDED 'AS IS' WITHOUT WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF ANY KIND.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims about the World Economic Forum can be read here.
