Fires at mobile phone masts are being investigated amid conspiracy theories claiming a link between 5G and coronavirus.
here have been mast fires in Birmingham, Liverpool and Melling in Merseyside, while The Guardian reports that telecoms engineers have also faced verbal and physical threats.
Read more at: Fact check: behind the 5G conspiracy theories | The Week UK
here have been mast fires in Birmingham, Liverpool and Melling in Merseyside, while The Guardian reports that telecoms engineers have also faced verbal and physical threats.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said on Twitter: “There
is absolutely no credible evidence of a link between 5G and
coronavirus”, while Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove added that it
was “dangerous nonsense”.
The BBC reports that scientists say the idea of a connection between Covid-19 and 5G is “complete rubbish” and biologically impossible.
Dr
Simon Clarke, associate professor in cellular microbiology at the
University of Reading, told the broadcaster: “The idea that 5G lowers
your immune system doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Your immune system can
be dipped by all sorts of things – by being tired one day, or not having
a good diet. Those fluctuations aren’t huge but can make you more
susceptible to catching viruses.”
Adam Finn, professor of paediatrics at the University
of Bristol, added: “The present epidemic is caused by a virus that is
passed from one infected person to another. We know this is true.
“We
even have the virus growing in our lab, obtained from a person with the
illness. Viruses and electromagnetic waves that make mobile phones and
internet connections work are different things. As different as chalk
and cheese.”
Coronavirus is spreading just as
quickly in cities, and even countries, which are yet to roll out 5G
technology. Iran, for example, has the sixth highest number of coronavirus deaths of any country in the world and is digging mass graves due to the extent of the problem. The country does not use 5G technology.
As fact-checking organisation Full Fact notes, one origin of the conspiracy, a Daily Star article headlined “Fears 5G wifi networks could be acting as ‘accelerator’ for disease”, quotes not a scientist but an “activist and philosophy lecturer at the Isle of Wight College”.
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