Fact check: Video makes multiple false claims about COVID-19 pandemic

Facebook users have been sharing a video that makes multiple false claims about COVID-19, for instance that Bill Gates planned the pandemic and 5G technology was involved in its spread.

The 21-minute clip, titled “THE TRUTH ABOUT COVID-19”, can be found here .

The video shows a woman named Claire Edwards sharing numerous conspiracies about the pandemic. The caption says that Edwards worked for the United Nations between 1999 and 2017.

A U.N. spokesperson told Reuters that Edwards did work for them as a Conference Services Officer between 29 May 1999 and 28 March 2017, but confirmed she is “no longer professionally affiliated with the United Nations.”

This article will only address the primary claims in the video.

“The COVID-19 pandemic was planned by Bill Gates”

The video says: “COVID-19 was long pre-planned in documents and simulation exercises emanating from the eugenicist Bill Gates and the Rockefeller Foundation.”

There is no evidence that the coronavirus pandemic was deliberately planned or that Bill Gates has any links with such a plan.

This conspiracy theory, along with other misinformation that references Gates, has already been debunked by Reuters here.

“5G spreads COVID-19”

The video says: “Wireless technology suppresses the immune system. 5G is implicated in COVID-19 through correlations between the locations of the 5G rollout and morbidity and mortality.”

There is no connection between the coronavirus outbreak and possible 5G health effects.

Reuters has already disproved allegations relating to 5G here and here.

“There is no pandemic”

The video says: “There is and was no pandemic…Mortality is at a lower level than in previous years.”

This is false. Reuters has debunked claims relating to annual death rates here, here and here.

As of Nov. 3, figures from the World Health Organisation (WHO) show 1,201,000 people have died globally due to COVID-19: covid19.who.int/.

“The flu is just as deadly as COVID-19”

Edwards tells viewers that the death rate for coronavirus is “right in line with the seasonal flu.”

This is false: current evidence suggests COVID-19 has a higher mortality rate than influenza.

Worldwide, the WHO estimates between 290,000 and 650,000 people die of seasonal flu each year (bit.ly/2Jzt8i8) .

As mentioned above, WHO figures show that the current coronavirus death toll is over 1,200,000.

Reuters has verified previous claims about COVID-19 and flu here and here .

“Coronavirus measures in the UK allow murder, torture and rape”

In the clip, Claire Edwards says “illegal coronavirus measures” have been implemented “to grant immunity to government operatives to commit murder, rape and torture, that’s in the UK.”

This is misleading due to missing context. The British government is currently debating the Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct Bill), which would allow undercover agents and informants to commit crimes as part of their work (here).

However, this bill has nothing to do with the novel coronavirus.

It has not yet been implemented and is awaiting its second reading in the House of Lords (here).

The bill has nevertheless been disputed. The UK’s opposition party, Labour, wanted to modify the bill to ban death, torture and rape, but parliament voted against the amendment.

Controversy surrounding the bill has been discussed in media reports here and here .

VERDICT

False. The speaker in this video makes many claims about the coronavirus pandemic that are not supported by evidence.

This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here .

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