The birdemic is indeed a deadly plague, and apparently engineered by a (recently revived) Dr Evil - because the banner headlines are trumpeting that it has already (after 'just' a few months) killed (including thousands of deliberately-misallocated deaths) nearly THIRTY THOUSAND PEOPLE in the UK (alone!).
(Well - admittedly this is less than 0.0005 (0.05%) of the population; but if you say the number in a sufficiently Loud and Portentous manner, it sounds terrifying... or, at least, it is terrifying to dishonest people who will not think - which, apparently, is nearly everybody.)
