Fact check: Is there a link between 5G technology and spread of coronavirus?

An audio message claiming that testing of 5G towers has led to the second wave of coronavirus in India has been doing round of social media in recent weeks. While top health care officials have said that complacency in the country perhaps triggered the resurgence of infection, this online message claims that the SARS-CoV-2 virus used radio frequencies to spiral out. On May 10, the Department of Telecommunications quashed the rumour calling it false and baseless. It also urged people to refrain from being misguided by such misinformation.

Furthermore, it asserted that all the claims are baseless as 5G testing hasn’t yet begun in India. It informed that testing of the 5G network has not yet started anywhere in India and the claim that 5G Trials or networks are causing coronavirus in India is baseless and false. Mobile towers emit non-ionizing Radio frequencies having very minuscule power and are incapable of causing any kind of damage to living cells including human beings.

The ministry clarified that mobile towers emit non-ionizing Radio frequencies having very minuscule power and are incapable of causing any kind of damage to living cells including human beings. Taking extra precautions, the DoT has prescribed extremely stringent norms for exposure limit for the Radio Frequency Field (Base Station Emission). 

Awareness programmes 

DoT has been taking several steps to allay the fear of people regarding the health effects of EMF emissions. For this purpose, it has introduced a nationwide awareness programme, distribution of pamphlets and information brochure on various topics related to EMF, publishing detailed information on EMF related issues on the website of DoT, advertisements in newspapers, the launch of “Tarang Sanchar” portal etc.
 

Since the outbreak, the country has reported a total of 2,26,62,575 cases of coronavirus. Out of the total, 2,46,116 have died while 1,86,71,222 have recovered. At least, 37,45,237 are currently active in the country. Meanwhile, the Fitch Ratings warned that India's slow pace of vaccination could mean that the country remains vulnerable to further waves of the pandemic even once the current surge subsides. Just 9.4 per cent of the population had received at least one vaccine dose as of May 5, according to figures from Our World in Data, the agency said.

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