Fact Check: Did Germany send £130 bn bill to China for 'coronavirus damages'?

Claim: Germany sent a £130 billion bill to China for the reimbursement of the 'coronavirus damages' incurred by the country.

Rating: False

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What is the rumour about?

• Since the pandemic began in China in December 2019, countries like Germany, France, the UK, and even the US have criticised China for not warning them about the outbreak. Even Germany's largest newspaper Bild came up with an invoice of 149 billion Euros, to be reimbursed by China. 

• According to the claims, Berlin, Germany, has called for Beijing’s responsibility amidst the Coronavirus pandemic and issued a 130 billion pounds bill (149 billion Euros). Since then many news outlets are posting the same. 

Image courtesy: Facebook

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Image courtesy: Twitter

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Who started the rumour?

• The article was first out on the Express UK website. The headline clearly stated that Berlin, Germany, had sent a bill of £130 billion to China. 

• The newspaper stated that Beijing owes Germany for the losses it had suffered due to China. The current blow on China came after recent reports stating that Beijing had actually covered the truth about the correct number of people affected by the pandemic in China. 

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Google Trends 

After an analysis of the Google Trends with respect to Germany sending a 130 billion pounds invoice to China rumour, one can see that people have been hugely interested to know about the same. The maximum number of searches have been done on April 20, 2020. 

Image courtesy: Google Trends 

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Republic World did a fact check 

• Republic World did a fact check on "Germany sending a 130 billion pounds invoice to China" rumour and the claims were found to be false. 

• Even though Express UK's website mentions that the 130 billion pounds bill was already sent to Beijing, no such official reports have been released by Germany as of yet. Moreover, Germany officials consider it as an illusionary invoice according to recent reports. 

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• The bill of 130 billion pounds i.e 149 billion Euros was a mockup bill that was published on Germany’s largest newspaper called Bild. Bild released an invoice calculating all the losses Germany incurred due to coronavirus outbreak in the country, which originated from China. It mentioned that the country suffered a 130 billion pounds loss and thus it should be recovered.

• According to Bild, the itemized list of 149 billion Euros includes €27 billion for loss in tourism revenue,  €7.2 billion loss in the German film industry, a million euros loss an hour for German airline Lufthansa and €50 billion loss that was incurred by small businesses in Germany. However, Express UK website states that when Germany showed this invoice to China, they considered the invoice will stir up xenophobia and nationalism.

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