Five bizarre coronavirus myths debunked

Mind-control microchips in vaccines. A “man-made” virus. An international conspiracy to obtain oil.

The new coronavirus has been great fodder for conspiracy theorists. Here we list some of the most bizarre myths we’ve come across and the stories behind them.

Bill Gates planted microchips in coronavirus vaccines

The one everyone has heard of. Bill Gates is planting microchips in coronavirus vaccines to control people and set up a New World Order. Gates used the term “digital certificate” during a press conference when talking about creating an online database for health records of recovered and vaccinated coronavirus patients. This somehow morphed into Illuminati microchips and mind control. Gates Foundation has repeatedly denied this and frankly, the technology to do this doesn’t actually exist yet.

5G networks cause and spread coronavirus

Conspiracy theorists are convinced that the invisible 5G network, which is everywhere, somehow spreads the virus. This one actually had a study behind it which has been retracted. Scientists have told people many, many times that the coronavirus, or any other virus, cannot travel on radio waves used in 5G networks.  In fact, viruses that cause diseases in humans cannot be transmitted this way. Only computer viruses can.

Doctors are selling patients’ brains to the US for cannibals

This one is my personal favourite because of how absurd and elaborate it is. It starts off like most modern-day stories do. The US wants oil. It has apparently struck gold in Brazil in the Amazon Rainforest. The only thing standing in its way is a native tribe of cannibals who want a daily supply of human meat. And that’s why the US created this global pandemic, to be able to kill thousands of people every day, have their bodies shipped to the States and gifted to the cannibals. Not only is this theory crazy, it’s also incredibly racist. There are indeed primitive tribes living in the Amazon but they are victims, not cannibalistic villains. These tribes prefer to remain uncontacted so the chances of them negotiating with any outsiders is slim. They also haven’t been exposed to most modern-day diseases.

Doctors are being paid $3,000 by WHO to declare people infected

This theory is linked to the previous one, except here the WHO is the villain. Doctors are declaring healthy people COVID-19 positive because the WHO is paying them $3,000 per patient. Some of the bodies are also sent to the US for “research”. If the WHO donated $3,000 for a single patient, it would’ve gone bankrupt by now. Not to mention that every doctor has refuted this.

The US or China created the virus to destroy each other

China created the virus as a bioweapon and leaked it from a lab in Wuhan to destroy the US. The US army created the virus to destroy China. A blame game between two of the world’s superpowers ensues– Trump still calls it the “China virus”. The virus isn’t man-made. Scientists have carefully studied the structure of the virus and concluded it wasn’t created in a lab, nor is it a mutated form of another virus. There’s robust research to support this. If the new coronavirus was bio-engineered it would contain some traces or template of old coronaviruses. But it doesn’t.