Fact check: 2019 general election campaign pledges are not evidence pandemic was planned

A viral video detailing a series of conspiracies about the COVID-19 pandemic has been shared online by British social media users.

The 15-minute video titled ‘The Great Coronavirus Swindle’ has 2,300 likes (here) and features numerous statements and opinions. This article will only address the primary claims.

Discussing the UK election in 2019, the speaker says: “Do you remember in that general election campaign Boris Johnson signalling very powerfully that he intended to recruit, I think it was 10,000 new police officers and 10,000 new nurses. Did you wonder why 10,000 new police officers would be needed? Did you think, hmm, why would 10,000 extra nurses be needed? Interesting isn’t it, we were being conditioned and primed…almost as soon as that election was won the button was pressed on the great reset and the virus was released in China…from a lab.” (09:37)

However, Boris Johnson’s election promise to recruit more police and nurses was unrelated to COVID-19 and is not evidence the pandemic is a hoax.

Reuters reported in July 2019 that Boris Johnson’s plans to hire 20,000 new police officers reversed cuts made under previous governments in the hope of impressing voters concerned about rising violent crime (here).

In November 2019, Reuters covered the Conservative Party’s election manifesto, which included a promise to employ 50,000 more nurses (here). However, under scrutiny from the opposition and media, the prime minister acknowledged that 19,000 nurses out of his target 50,000 were already working in the NHS, adding that his policies would retain those workers that might otherwise leave (here).

The Conservative election victory on Dec. 13, 2019 (here) was unrelated to the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, known as SARS-CoV-2, which was first identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan in January 2020 (here).

Peter Ben Embarek, who led the World Health Organisation’s team of independent experts in its visit to Wuhan, said on Feb. 9, 2021 that the possibility the virus leaked from a lab – which has been the subject of conspiracy theories – was extremely unlikely and did not require further study (here).

Meanwhile, the “Great Reset” referenced in the video is a sustainability plan proposed by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in June 2020 after indicators showed the pandemic was increasing inequality (here). However, it has been the subject of baseless conspiracy theories suggesting that world leaders and elites are working together to create a totalitarian world, debunked by Reuters Fact Check here and here .

The video continues with the claim: “Do you remember in the early days, “oh masks don’t work”, “improving your immune system won’t work”? They wanted it to spread far and wide because… they needed an excuse to introduce draconian command and control.”

This is false. The government initially did not advise Britons to wear face coverings amid contradictory scientific advice on their usefulness (here and here).

However, as more evidence emerged, the government announced on May 11, 2020 that masks should be worn in enclosed spaces (here) and made them compulsory on public transport in June (here) and in shops in July (here). The UK government was criticised for slow decision-making about masks and lockdowns (here), but there is no evidence they did this deliberately to introduce “draconian command”.

At the end of video, the speaker says: “Let us be that voice that will never say yes to the experimental genetic engineering injection programme” (13:46). Reuters has debunked claims that the vaccine will alter recipient DNA (here , here and here).

VERDICT

False. The Conservative election manifesto and victory in the December 2019 general election was unrelated to the novel coronavirus found in China in January 2020. There is no evidence to date that the virus was created in a lab, nor that the World Economic Forum plans to create a totalitarian world, nor that the vaccine is an experiment to alter DNA.

This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts www.reuters.com/fact-check/about .

*** This article has been archived for your research. The original version from Reuters can be found here ***