A video (here, here and here) of Republic TV anchor Syed Suhail stating that a fourth wave of COVID-19 will hit India in January is being widely shared on social media. Users are circulating this video in December 2024 with the description “January can be deadly,” which implies the video is a warning about January 2025. We’ve also received multiple requests in our WhatsApp tipline (+91 92470 52470) to verify the video’s authenticity. Let’s fact-check the claim made in this post.
Claim: Republic TV’s video warning that a fourth wave of COVID-19 will hit India in January 2025.
Fact: This is an old video from December 2022. Neither the Government of India nor any health agencies have issued warnings about a massive surge in cases in January 2025. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
An internet search using relevant keywords led us to the trailer of Republic TV’s program ‘Ye Bharat Ki Baat Hai’ uploaded (archive) on the X (formerly Twitter) account of Republic Bharat on 29 December 2022. The title of the program was “भारत में जिनपिंग का जासूस (Jinping’s Spy in India)”. In this trailer, the anchor can be seen wearing the same attire as in the viral video. However, the live streaming link provided in the X post description was inactive, and the full video of the show appears to have been deleted from their YouTube channel.
However, a reverse image search of the viral clip led us to an earlier upload (archive) of the same video on 01 January 2023, shared on the Facebook page ‘Star News Live’. This video discusses warnings about the fourth wave of COVID-19, predicting that it would hit India in January 2023, with the next 35-40 days being potentially deadly.
Furthermore, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, as of 16 December 2024, the number of active COVID-19 cases in India stands at just 11. As of date, neither the Government of India nor any health agencies have issued warnings about a massive surge in cases or the possibility of another COVID-19 wave in January 2025.
To sum up, an old 2022 news report warning about a fourth wave of COVID-19 in January 2023 is being falsely shared as recent content in December 2024 warning about a wave in January 2025.
