While misinformation about the health effects of the electromagnetic energy emitted by 5G technology preceded COVID-19,the pandemic has fuelled unscientific claims about the equipment causing the disease or placing people at greater risk of infection.
Mr Fletcher has responded to the growing community concerns with an emphatic declaration that the radio waves used by mobile and wireless technologies had been studied closely for decades and no harmful effects had been found.
"Any suggestions that there is a link between 5G and coronavirus are utterly baseless. As the Chief Medical Officer has said,5G does not cause the coronavirus and it does not spread coronavirus,"Mr Fletcher said.
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Protesters in northern NSW stopped work at a Telstra 5G installation last month and there was a suspicious fire at a Vodafone facility in Adelaide two weeks ago. Dozens of mobile towers in Britain and New Zealand have also been targeted in apparent arson attacks.
Pointing to the overseas incidents,Mr Fletcher said spreading misinformation was dangerous and warned that vandalism of telecommunications equipment in Australia was a criminal offence carrying a penalty of up to one year in prison.
"Interfering or tampering with telecommunications facilities is a criminal offence. The Australian government will not tolerate any vandalism of communications infrastructure and I urge Australians to report any suspicious activity to their local police,"he said.