Conspiracy theories and half-truths about the coronavirus pandemic have been circulating on Facebook and WhatsApp almost since it started.
But one particular piece of fake news doing the rounds on WhatsApp has prompted an angry denial from Public Health England. The audio message – allegedly from an ambulance service insider – makes claims about a supposed meeting of managers at the South East Coast Ambulance Service.
Predicting a peak in coronavirus cases in the coming week, the woman who recorded the message says “we will be seeing 900 deaths a day...one-third of them are going to be babies, children and teenagers with no underlying health issues.” The message, apparently scripted to cause maximum panic, alleges that the spike in cases