Message that the Chinese Government revealed the first COVID-19 virus contracted person's name is a satire - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 1, 2021
A post is being circulated on social media with a claim that the Chinese Government has finally revealed the name of the first person who got infected with the COVID-19 in China. This post claims that a Wuhan resident named ‘Lay Lee Sub Kee’ was the first person who got contracted with the COVID-19 virus. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: China Government revealed the details of the first person who got infected with the COVID-19 virus.
Fact: The message shared in the post is a joke.  ‘Lay Lee Sab Kee’ is a Hindi sentence that means ‘take off everyone’. It is a sarcastic message that was being shared on social media at least since May 2020. According to a few Chinese media reports, a 55-year-old from the Hubei province could have been the first person to contract COVID-19. Neither the Chinese Government nor Chinese media channels have revealed the personal details of this person. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On searching for the details of the claim made in the post, it is found out that the same message is being shared on social media at least since May 2020. Those posts can be seen here, and here. Most of the users have shared this message as a joke. The name ‘Lay Lee Sab Kee’ is a Hindi sentence that means ‘take off everyone’.
When we searched for the details of the first person who was infected with COVID-19 in China, we found several articles reporting that information. They can be seen here and here. According to the article published by ‘The Guardian’, a 55-year-old person from the Hubei province could have been the first person to contract the COVID-19 virus. ‘The Guardian’ reported this information based on the article published by ‘The South China Morning Post’. Neither the Chinese Government nor Chinese media channels have revealed the personal details of the first COVID-19 victim in China.
To sum it up, this message about the Chinese Government revealing the name of the first person infected with COVID-19 is a satire.