As the number of Covid-19 cases rise globally, the conspiracy theories or ‘infodemic’ have also increased.
Just like the Covid-19 virus, conspiracy theories are also spreading rapidly around the world. Several people are coming up with their own versions of the pandemic. But some of them that went viral are truly scary.
Here are some of the most talked about conspiracy theories surrounding Covid-19
5G Conspiracy
There were rumours about the connection between 5G and coronavirus. As the rapid rollout of 5G networks was taking place at the same time the pandemic hit in China. Keri Hilson, popular American singer, with 4.2 million followers on Twitter, sent out tweets about the alleged connection between 5G and COVID-19, saying, “People have been trying to warn us about 5G for YEARS. Petitions, organizations, studies... what we're going through is the affects [sic] of radiation. 5G launched in CHINA. Nov 1, 2019. People dropped dead”
Several videos were later shared on social media of people dropping on the ground and fainting in China which claimed that this was a result of 5G radio waves messing with the oxygen levels in blood
Bill Gates
Anti-vacciners and members of QAnon were sharing a video of a 2015 Ted talk given by Gates where he discussed the Ebola outbreak and warned of a new pandemic. They claimed that Bill gates had foreknowledge of the Covid pandemic or even purposely caused it. They claim that it was done by Bill gates to vaccinate the world’s population in order to implant digital microchips that will somehow track and control people
However, Bill gates responded to the conspiracy theories and said, “ There is no connection between any of these vaccines and any of the tracking-type devices at all. I don't know where that came from. Our foundation is about reducing deaths and bringing equity to health. And yet we get accused of creating the chips of the virus.It's a little unclear to me and I hope that it will die down as people get the facts”
Bioweapon
Several claimed that virus could also be a bioweapon. According to ET, a group of Chinese scientists in Canada were accused of spying and were stripped of their access to Canada’s National Microbiology Lab (NML) which is known to work on some of the most deadly pathogens.
The alleged ‘policy breach’, highlighted the bioweapon program of other countries including China. Later, there were rumours that the coronavirus is an offensive biological warfare weapon with DNA-genetic engineering.
Virus from Chinese Lab
Chinese city of Wuhan has a virology institute where researchers have been studying bat coronaviruses for a long time. This gave fuel to the rumours stating that the virus escaped from the China’s lab where they were studying the coronaviruses. The researchers working there were also targeted and they began examining the records to see if something was wrong.
But, later, genetic sequencing showed that the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus did not match any of the viruses sampled and studied in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Covid-19 prediction in novel
Several users have pointed out a paragraph from 1981 book ‘The Eyes of Darkness’ by Dean Koontz that predicts the Coronavirus outbreak.
According to ET, the plot of the book is based around a mother who attempts to find out what happened to her son after he mysteriously disappeared on a camping trip. It turns out that the boy is held in China, more specifically in Wuhan, the site of a deadly virus outbreak. A character named Dombey narrates an account of a virus called ‘Wuhan-400’ which was developed at the RDNA lab outside the city of Wuhan
US military
There were also a few rumours stating that US military brought the virus to Wuhan. It is said that the rumours were created by Chinese in order to defame US who were constantly blaming China for the Covid-19n outbreak
Covid-19 is a myth
Conspiracy theorists like David Icke and others claim that COVID-19 doesn’t actually exist, but is a plot by the global leaders to steal our freedoms. They also claimed that Covid-19 is just like a flu. However, his youtube and twitter accounts were recently suspended for spreading false information
