“Multiple world leaders, including Xi Jinping and Cyril Ramaphosa, fell ill after attending the 18th BRICS Summit.”

Following the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, social media platforms saw a surge in unverified claims suggesting that multiple world leaders had fallen ill or suffered medical emergencies, such as strokes or food poisoning, as a result of attending the event. These rumors specifically targeted Chinese President Xi Jinping and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issued a formal 'Fake Alert' on social media, characterizing these reports as 'malicious' and 'misleading'. Regarding President Ramaphosa, the South African Presidency confirmed that he had withdrawn from public engagements on medical advice to rest and recover after returning from the summit; however, no official source has linked his illness to the summit itself or any incident occurring there. Regarding President Xi Jinping, claims that he fainted or suffered a stroke during the summit are entirely unverified and have been dismissed by Indian authorities. The narrative appears to be a conflation of a legitimate, isolated health issue (Ramaphosa) with unsubstantiated rumors (Xi) to create a false narrative of a mass health incident at the summit.