These claims about the new coronavirus and 5G are unfounded

A Facebook post that has made several claims about the relationship between 5G, vaccines and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has been shared thousands of times.

The main claim of the post, that the new coronavirus is not a virus but just a story used to cover up the supposed damage done by 5G exposure, is incorrect.  

As we’ve written about before, 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.

Public Health England has said that there’s no “convincing evidence” that exposure below the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation guidelines can cause adverse health effects. These guidelines go up to 300GHz, whereas the maximum for 5G will probably only be in the tens of GHz.

As ‘evidence’ that the new coronavirus is a cover-up for 5G, the post shows a screenshot of a Google search result for “symptoms of 5g exposure.” While the image seems to be a genuine screenshot of what comes up when you search this phrase online, the displayed in the Google result is not from an official source and seems to be written to sell a number of products. 

And regardless, the claimed symptoms of 5G exposure shown don’t match the symptoms of the new coronavirus. The post claims that symptoms of 5G exposure include nausea, hair loss and bone marrow damage but the symptoms of Covid-19 include fever and coughing. Other symptoms include shortness of breath, aches and pains, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat or diarrhoea.

The post goes on to say that China was the first place to have over 100,000 5G towers and people in Wuhan were the first to contract the new coronavirus. 

It’s true to say China has over 100,000 5G towers. As of April 2019, China had a reported 1.9 million transmitter sites. However, it’s unclear whether China was the first country to reach this 100,000 figure. South Korea was reportedly the first country to commercially launch 5G services.  

The post also says that Bill Gates has created the new coronavirus to control the world and is creating a vaccine for it. This is incorrect. The claim may refer to a patent application for a different coronavirus filed by the Pirbright Institute, which receives funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, although not for this patented work. We’ve written about this before.