Firstly, I must confess that it seems kinda absurd that there should a link between a biological virus and a telecoms network infrastructure. But there is a conspiracy theory linking the novel coronavirus to 5G broadband technology.
This theory is causing havoc in the UK and even gone viral on social media in Nigeria.
These are the two major corona conspiracy theories circulating on social media:
- That the coronavirus is transmitted through the use of 5G technology;
- That 5G can suppress the immune system, thus making people more susceptible to catching the virus.
In the UK, there are reports that this has caused mobile telephone masts to be set on fire in Birmingham, Liverpool and Melling in Merseyside. BBC confirms that the posts were shared on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram – including by verified accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers.
At the government’s daily coronavirus briefing earlier, Mr Gove said conspiracy theories linking 5G with Covid-19 were “just nonsense, dangerous nonsense as well.”
There is also another video that has gone viral about this issue. As reported by Daily Mail, a woman posted a video of herself confronting workers who were laying fibre optic cables in East London and labelling them killers, over a conspiracy theory claiming that 5G caused the global coronavirus pandemic.
In Nigeria also, there are some of the tweets going round about the seemingly destructive nature of 5G and the link to the coronavirus
This led the issuance of a press statement by the Nigerian Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Matanmi, denying the the issuance of the 5G license in the country.
According to him, “His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, places a premium on the welfare, health and security of Nigerians. As such, our desire for technological advancement will never be at the expense of the health and welfare of our citizens.”
He mentioned that a 3-month study trial commenced on the 25th of November, 2019 in order to critically review and study the health and security implications of deploying 5G in Nigeria.
“Government will not act on the speculations only, but rather we will take an informed decision on 5G after due consultation with experts and the public.” he added.
So is there any link between 5G and coronavirus or health hazards?
As far as I know, there has been no scientific evidence linking the coronavirus pandemic to 5G, nor any immediate negative health effects to 5G.
5G is the fifth generation of wireless communications technologies supporting cellular data networks. Large scale adoption began in 2019 and today virtually every telecommunication service provider in the developed world is upgrading its infrastructure to offer 5G functionality.
5G frequencies may be higher than that of 4G and other earlier networks, but they are still far lower than the limits stipulated in international guidelines.
To enable increased performance, 5G will extend into higher frequencies around 3.5 GHz and up to a few tens of GHz. The higher frequencies are new to mobile phone networks, but are commonly used in other applications, such as point-to-point radio links and body-scanners for security checks.
At these higher frequencies, 5G networks will use a greater number of base stations and of connected objects. 5G will further employ beam-forming antennas to focus signals more efficiently towards the device in use, rather than having the signal spread in broad directions as in current base station antennas.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) official statement is that “To date, and after much research performed, no adverse health effect has been causally linked with exposure to wireless technologies. Health-related conclusions are drawn from studies performed across the entire radio spectrum but, so far, only a few studies have been carried out at the frequencies to be used by 5G.”
WHO says it is conducting a health risk assessment from exposure to radiofrequencies, covering the entire radiofrequency range, including 5G, to be published by 2022.
It will review scientific evidence related to potential health risks from 5G exposure as the new technology is deployed, and as more public health-related data become available.
Full fact, an independent fact checking body in the UK, has explored the claims after a British tabloid newspaper highlighted them recently. Its conclusion is that “This is not true. There is no evidence that 5G WiFi networks are linked to the new coronavirus.”
So I would want to conclude at the moment that there is no scientific evidence linking 5G to coronavirus or any health related issue.
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