AP Earlier in February, people lined up to buy face masks in Hong Kong.

Reuters People wear protective face masks as they take their lunch breaks, following the outbreak of the new coronavirus, in Hong Kong.

A Bioweapon Or Effects Of 5G? 7 Conspiracy Theories Around Coronavirus That Will Shock You







Autoplay Autoplay 1 of 8 The Biggest Humanitarian Crisis The coronavirus outbreak has brought the world to a halt. With over 471,794 positive cases and 21,297 deaths, COVID-19 outbreak has caused global panic. Italy, Iran, US happen to be the worst hit countries in addition to China, which is the epicentre of the outbreak.



As the phrase goes, the ‘streets are talking’ and rumour mills are running overtime. Several sceptics and tin foil hat bearers have been speculating and there are plenty of coronavirus conspiracy theories doing the rounds on the Internet.



Here are some of the most spine-chilling, eerie and scary conspiracy theories surrounding COVID-19.

The Chinese Cover-Up Ever since the news about the coronavirus was picked up by global media, speculations about the communist government of China trying to ‘cover-up’ the outbreak and hide the official figures were rife.



The fact that the Chinese Government tried to suppress the attempts of the whistleblowers (the insiders as well as eight doctors), who tried to warn the public of the pandemic, is rather alarming and didn’t help their cause.



While the rumours of the Chinese cover-up are unsubstantiated, once can only think about the popular proverb, ‘there’s no smoke, without fire’.

Coronavirus Predicted In A Novel This theory, in all probability, is the scariest one and will send chills down your spine. Soon after the news of the outbreak broke, several users started pointing out that a passage from the 1981 book ‘The Eyes of Darkness’ by Dean Koontz eerily predicts the Coronavirus outbreak.



The photograph of the passage from the book went viral in no time and netizens couldn’t help but freak out because the resemblance was uncanny and the evidence was hard to dismiss.



To give you some background, the plot is based around a mother who attempts to find out what happened to her son after he mysteriously disappeared on a camping trip. It turns out that the boy is held in China – more specifically in Wuhan - the site of a deadly virus outbreak.



In the passage, a character named Dombey narrates an account of a virus called ‘Wuhan-400’ which was developed at the RDNA lab outside the city of Wuhan, and ‘ it was the four-hundredth viable strain of man-made microorganisms created at that research centre’.



The passage then gives intricate details about how the virus affects the human body. The chilling accuracy with which this 1981 book predicts the outbreak and the resemblance between ‘Wuhan-400’ and Coronavirus is eerie to say the least. Is Coronavirus A Bioweapon? The Internet was brimming with conspiracies about the coronavirus, and, perhaps, one of the most prominent ones was that the virus could be a bioweapon. According to an ET Prime report, a group of Chinese scientists in Canada were accused of spying and were stripped of their access to Canada’s National Microbiology Lab (NML) which is known to work on some of the most deadly pathogens.



The alleged ‘policy breach’, highlighted the bioweapon program of other countries including China. Dr Francis Boyle, the creator of Bio Weapons Act, also claims that ‘the coronavirus is an offensive biological warfare weapon with DNA-genetic engineering’.



Again, the claims about coronavirus being a biological weapon are unsubstantiated.



Also Read: Is your beard putting you at risk of coronavirus?



Origins in the seafood market? Scientists haven’t been able to determine the origin of COVID-19 but speculations are rife that the virus originated in the seafood market. This was substantiated by reports from Chinese health authorities and the World Health Organization which said that “most” cases had links to the seafood market, which was closed on 1 January.



Sceptics on the online forums, however, have been sharing suspicions that the virus could have originated from Wuhan, Institute of Virology, which houses China’s only level- four biosafety laboratory (the highest-level classification of labs that study the deadliest viruses).



The first prominent personality to come out publicly and support the theory was the US senator Tom Cotton who appeared on Fox News to allege that the virus could indeed have originated from the lab.



Several netizens have also been alleging that this was an attempt to control the Chinese population. However, the claims are unsubstantiated.



HONG KONG: As Hong Kong tries to contain the coronavirus outbreak, medical experts say many in the Asian financial hub are reeling from increased anxiety and an unprecedented level of mental health issues.The SARS-CoV-2 epidemic came after months of tumultuous anti-government protests that had already led to a sharp increase in depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), they said.It also touches on fears of the 2003 SARS epidemic, which killed nearly 300 people in the city."Hong Kong is in a unique position, due to changes to our routine, previous months of social unrest and deep memories of SARS," said Carol Liang, an executive at Mind Hong Kong, a mental health charity in the former British colony.A University of Hong Kong survey found that a third of adults in the special administrative region reported symptoms of PTSD, up from 2 percent in 2015, while 11 percent reported depression, up from 2 percent during the Occupy protests in 2014.Since January, tens of thousands have been working from home, many cooped up in tiny apartments, while the stockpiling of basic food and cleaning products has become common.Children stuck at home must grapple with online learning while many families, particularly the poor, are unable to get protective gear."Hoarding tissue, bags of rice, are measures to cope with the anxiety rather than fulfilling needs of daily life. They are hoarding way beyond their only needs," said Eliza Cheung, a clinical psychologist at Hong Kong Red Cross Hong Kong has about 100 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and has reported two deaths.A mental health hotline the government opened in January has received about 25,000 calls, authorities said, while voluntary groups have sprung into action to help counsel people, particularly those quarantined at home."We have everyone calling from the entire spectrum, elderly from the nursing home to teenagers. We are just trying to hang onto each day as it is at the moment," said Karman Leung, chief executive of Samaritans Hong Kong, a local non-governmental organisation that assists people in distress.Low-income residents have been particularly hurt by a deepening slowdown in Hong Kong's economy, battered by protests and the Sino-U.S. trade war.The Society for Community Organisation (SoCO), a local organisation that works on poverty alleviation, said 70 percent of poor families can't afford masks and disinfectant.Authorities have pledged cash handouts to residents and tax breaks to businesses. Last week, the city's finance secretary unveiled measures to allocate "sufficient resources" to help with mental health problems.Some residents remain optimistic."This virus, I thought it came at a good time, where we are so divided. Hopefully it will bring us together again. Each one of us hopefully trying to fight this disease," said Derek Au, 46, a Hong Kong resident.