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Internet connectivity has always been important, but as we stay at home to save lives it is absolutely vital. Right now, for many people the web is their main tool for work, school, and entertainment.

People can have their groceries delivered at the click of a button, keep fit through online exercise classes and take a virtual tour of the year's top arts and culture exhibitions without leaving home.

Children will be getting stuck into some home learning this week as BBC Bitesize launches new daily maths and English lessons online for children of all ages, with more subjects in the pipeline.

Over the past few weeks, since the start of the crisis, I have been in regular contact with the bosses of the UK's mobile and broadband companies – thanks to online video conferencing – to make sure the infrastructure underpinning all this entertainment and education stands up to the increased demand.

Our broadband network has always been adept at handling home working on a mass scale, because it was built to support the evening peaks that we are now seeing in the daytime. And while operators have the headroom to deal with increased usage, it is encouraging to see them putting competitiveness aside and working together to ensure network resilience. We've had good engagement with gaming platforms and streaming services, too, to manage the impact of things like high bandwidth video game downloads.

Even more heartening are the commitments from the major telecoms providers to support vulnerable customers and make sure the increased communications needs of NHS workers are satisfied. Among other things, these commitments mean that NHS frontline staff will be able to use their personal devices for work purposes with all the calls, minutes, and data they need at no extra cost. I applaud these companies for continuing to step up and contribute to the national effort.

But, amid all this positivity, I've been completely dismayed to receive reports of almost 60 separate incidents of vandalism and fire damage to telecoms infrastructure sites across the UK.

These appalling acts, at a time when our NHS and emergency responders are relying on mobile phone masts more than ever, appear to have been spurred by crackpot conspiracy theories, posted and shared on social media, linking new 5G mobile services to coronavirus.

As scientific experts, independent fact checkers, telecommunications firms and the Government have all made clear, there is absolutely no evidence of a link between 5G and coronavirus.

Those posting and sharing these baseless theories, including some celebrities and people in the public eye, should be absolutely ashamed of themselves for promoting this nonsensical pseudo-science.

People need to check what they are reading online against the clear, accurate advice of the authorities – in this case, Public Health England. There is absolutely no plausible explanation for how the spread of a biological virus could be influenced by 5G radio waves, which operate well below internationally-agreed safety limits.

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Another worrying trend is a spate of incidents of telecoms engineers being abused in the street for carrying out necessary maintenance and repairs to keep our networks running.

Openreach told me of an incident in Bristol in which an engineer was threatened with physical violence by a member of the public because he couldn't access his Sky channels. He said he was going to "breathe all over him" if he didn't fix the problem.

Other workers have been spat at, sworn at, and told to go home because people passing by don’t believe their work is really essential. These are obviously difficult times for all of us, but this sort of behaviour is disgraceful in any circumstances and I utterly deplore it.

I have heard about council workers stopping telecoms companies from carrying out essential street works. There are also landlords who are refusing access to properties where their tenants have requested call-outs to fix their connectivity problems. This must end.

Telecommunications is a critical part of our national infrastructure. This means work to repair, maintain and upgrade these networks must be allowed to continue. This is in line with Government and public health advice on social distancing, which states that gatherings of more than two people are permitted where it is essential for work purposes.

We have clarified this advice to local authorities, the police, and landlords, so there are no further restrictions on essential work.

Thankfully, none of these incidents has had a significant impact on people's services. But we must remain vigilant and support our brilliant, dedicated telecoms workers.

Let them get their job done.