Fact check: Are deadly flying insects claiming lives in India and China?

Origin 

As previously seen on various social media platforms, spreading fake news in order to receive an increased engagement with people has become a common practice. Facebook has been actively taking measures to curb the spreading of fake news on its platform and has also succeeded in doing so until a certain extent. But, fake news still makes its way to the platform on a usual basis, the video of 'deadly flying' insects killing in China and Iran is one of such posts that has been spreading false information. 

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Deadly flying insects in India? 

Image courtesy - Facebook

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The footage doing rounds on the various social media platforms from India is actually not related to any deadly insect. The tragic footage is actually from Vishakhapatnam from May 2020 when a gas leak was reported in the area. The footage shared in the videos does not depict the impact of a deadly insect attack but showcased the aftermath of the gas leak in Vishakhapatnam. The footage is specifically from Vizag in Vishakhapatnam where eight people including a minor reportedly fell unconscious due to the gas leak. 

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Currently, India is not facing an infestation of any deadly insect. The recent infestation India is witnessing is that of locust. Massive swarms of desert locust have found their way to the country and have entered in states like Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. Locusts are known to attack crops, plantations and vegetables but they are not known to attack humans or animals. 

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Whereas recently, rumours about murder hornets entering India have also made the rounds on the internet. The Hornets have been known to be venomous and can death to humans but they haven't been reported to enter India as of yet. As per reports, murder hornets are native to Southeast Asia, China and Taiwan and none of those places have reported any official deaths because of them. 

Google Trends Analysis

As fake news always attracts people's attention, it also leads to a number of people researching them on the internet. Many Google searches about deadly flying insects were witnessed on Google recently. People searched for terms as 'flying insects in China/India' or 'deadly flying insects'. Check out Google Trends analysis below - 

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Image courtesy - Google Trends