New Zealand's Director-General of Health is unfazed by a conspiracy theory linking coronavirus to 5G - because most Kiwis simply don't buy it.
Speaking at his daily COVID-19 briefing, Dr Ashley Bloomfield said "it's not surprising" that the health crisis has sparked conspiracy theories, as for many, it represents the biggest event in many people's lives.
Many theories have done the rounds in the months since the outbreak began. As well as an unsubstantiated link to 5G technology, coronavirus has also been associated with Jewish cults and a plot to wipe out a generation of women.
However the theories "[haven't] impacted on or affected our response," Dr Bloomfield told reporters from Parliament on Tuesday afternoon.
"I think the reason for this is that repeated surveys show that the vast majority of New Zealanders take it seriously, that they support what the Government is trying to achieve," he said.
While it's not clear which surveys Dr Bloomfield is referring to, a recent Newshub-Reid Research poll shows he's right.
The poll, released on Monday, found an astonishing 91.6 percent of people believed the Government's call to put the country into lockdown was the correct one. Just 6 percent said it wasn't, and 2.5 percent didn't know.
"As we saw particularly through the lockdown and alert level 3, [Kiwis] are willing participants and contributors to our collective efforts to break the chain of transmission," Dr Bloomfield continued on Tuesday.
"Therefore, my sense is that they understand both the reasons why the virus is important and also what needs to happen to address it.
"So I think most New Zealanders don't pay too much attention to those kinds of conspiracy theories."
The efforts of Kiwis to stop transmission of COVID-19 has paid dividends for New Zealand, which now has just 40 active cases of the disease. The total number of cases here is 1503, and there have been 21 deaths from coronavirus on our shores.
Last month, Dr Bloomfield's comical reaction to a question linking coronavirus to 5G - a simple raise of the eyebrows worth 1000 words - was widely shared on social media.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was left to answer the question orally, telling reporters it is "simply not true" that there's a link between the disease and the technology.
