Fact Check: Is `Florona' a new Covid variant?
Media has reported that a new corona variant `Florona’ has been detected in Israel. Users are sharing one of the articles that reported about Florona.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 6 Jan 2022 5:00 AM GMTHyderabad: Media has reported that a new corona variant `Florona' has been detected in Israel. Users are sharing one of the articles that reported about Florona.
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We have a new variant called Florona 🤦🏾♂️ , a double infection of COVID19 and influenza
— Wellence Mujuru (@WellenceMujuru) January 3, 2022
Agreed. However, omicron is still unpredictable. I hope and wish that it wont turn itself into a lethal form.
— Harry (@ihacnain) January 5, 2022
PS: there are few more new variants found in several parts of the world namely as Florona & IHU.
Now we Got a New Variant called florona and IHU .
— Jay Fermin🌴 (@jay_f19) January 5, 2022
Protect the children! This is a horrible situation you describe in Idaho! New variant found in Israel! FLORONA! Combination of flu and covid! Get your flu shots and pneumonia vax
— linda stern (@lindast58551879) January 4, 2022
Israel has discovered a new variant! Covid and influenza FLORONA. Get vaxxed people for covid and Flu today!
— linda stern (@lindast58551879) January 4, 2022
Florona and IHU new variants reported in France and some parts of Europe. But we still won't ban the international flights.
— Anurag Lodha (@Anurag_Lodha1) January 4, 2022
Please take a thought and ban all International flights for couple of few months.@PMOIndia @HMOIndia @maharashtra_hmo
More than 700 COVID cases reported in a day for the first time since October 2021.Omicron variant has started spreading in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. A new variant Florona has also been detected. one after another variant of corona coming.
— khalid ansari (@khalidansari110) January 4, 2022
The fact that there is a new variant that has been out for like a week now "Florona" a hybrid virus mix of Flu and covid and nobody is talking about it. pic.twitter.com/Gmvdy79bk4
— Galaxy BLVD (@BlvdGalaxy) January 3, 2022
Fact Check:
NewsMeter found the claim to be false.
Israel, on December 31, 2021, announced the first case of Florona disease, which is a double-infection of the COVID-19 and influenza. COVID-19 and influenza (flu) are both different infectious respiratory diseases and they share some similar symptoms.
The same information is on this can be found on the WHO website.
The disease was first identified in a woman who went into labor this week in Israel. She was not vaccinated against COVID-19, as per the Israeli media reports.
The important thing to note here is that Florona is not a corona variant, it is just a disease. Previously Delta and Omicron variants were also found to have the same infectious condition called `Delmicran'.
The names of the corona variants are usually determined by the World Health Organization (WHO), with an alphanumeric name with the Greek alphabet assigned to the coronavirus variants. Complete information on the names of the Corona variants can be found on the WHO website. However, there is no corona variant named Florona in this information.
https://www.who.int/en/
https://www.who.int/en/
Hence, the claim is false. Florona is not the new Covid-19 variant. Florona is a disease caused by both influenza and Corona.