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| Coronavirus conspiracy theory | Image: BBC |
The number of confirmed cases of infections and deaths has not only left many in panic but has also served as the petri dish to breed various forms of conspiracy theories and myths.
Here are some of the theories around the coronavirus:
It Is Caused By 5G Technology
Some people have linked the viral disease to the advent of the superfast 5G wireless technology. According to the proponents of this theory, the coronavirus was caused as a result of the radiations from the 5G technology.
American singer, Keri Hilson is a subscriber to this notion. On Sunday (March 15), Hilson took to her Twitter page where she expounded how 5G supposedly infects humans with the virus.
There is no evidence that 5G is harmful to humans. 5G is the next generation of wireless network technology, following on from 4G. Like 4G, 3G and 2G before it, 5G mobile data is transmitted over radio waves—a small part of the whole electromagnetic spectrum (which includes microwaves, visible light and X-rays). These radio waves are non-ionising, meaning they don’t damage the DNA inside cells.
It Was Bioengineered In A Lab In Wuhan, China
Indeed, the virus was first detected in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province, China in December 2019. Coincidentally, there is a biosafety level-four (BSL-4) laboratory situated in Wuhan, the city where the whole outbreak started.
However, this fact has been exploited by conspiracy theoreticians who propose that the coronavirus was bioengineered as a bioweapon in the Wuhan lab. In February 2020, virus expert and global lead coronavirus investigator Trevor Bedford observed that “the evidence we have is that the mutations [in the virus] are completely consistent with natural evolution.”
Did Nostradamus Predict Coronavirus?
Followers of Nostradamus, French astrologer, physician and reputed seer are convinced the mystic predicted the coronavirus. One of his text which had earlier been interpreted as an earthquake prediction has been reevaluated.
“The sloping park, great calamity,
Through “the Lands of the West” and Lombardy (Italy)
The fire in the ship, plague and captivity;
Mercury in Sagittarius, Saturn fading.”
The sloping park has been interpreted as Hankou Jiangtan, a slopy park in Wuhan while Lands of the West ” and Lombardy to mean Europe, the plague and captivity to mean the coronavirus and city lockdown.
There is no credibility to this claim. According to Brian Dunning, an American writer and producer who focuses on science and scepticism, anyone who interprets Nostradamus’ writings as prophecies of the future does so with a great deal of hindsight.
Asides Nostradamus, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and writer Dean Koontz have also been credited with supposedly predicting the virus. Gates during a 2015 speech at a TED conference in Vancouver and Koontz in his book, “The Eyes of Darkness”.
Coronavirus Is A Death Sentence
No. There is nothing farther from the truth than this.
Last month, scientists from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention published a research paper analyzing the data for the first 72,314 people diagnosed with Covid-19.
The report concluded that 80.9% of COVID-19 cases were mild. The figures from China give some indication that most people do recover from the illness.
According to CNN, in a situation report published on Thursday, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said that of the 80,928 confirmed cases in mainland China, 70,420 people have been “cured and discharged from hospital”.