Even if a rather long period of time has passed since the start of the pandemic, the citizens in the Republic of Moldova continue to believe all kinds of conspiracy theories about the origin of the novel coronavirus. Slightly over 43% of the respondents of a survey consider the virus was created to force everyone to vaccinate with chips so that a world government could later control the whole mankind. Over 42% of the respondents support the theory that the virus was invented by Bill Gates or other rich people so as to force everyone to vaccinate and to later control the size of the population. Over 38% of those interviewed consider COVID-19 was created in a lab by the Chinese people, while almost 28% believe that COVID-19 was invented in a U.S. lab and was taken by American soldiers to China, says a sociological survey commissioned by the association “WatchDog.MD Community” to CBS Research.

In a news conference at IPN, WatchDog.MD expert Valeriu Pașa said that the tendency concerning conspiracy theories is worrisome. With the passing of time, the number of those who believe these should decrease. “Regrettably, we ascertain that neither the authorities, nor society in general, including the mass media, managed for now to efficiently fight this scourge that directly affects the medical institutions’ capacity to fight the pandemic,” explained the expert.

Sociologist Vasile Cantarji said the number of infections and deaths from COVID-19 has grown, as did the number of people who believe in conspiracy theories. The number of persons who believe in chips and vaccination rose 5-7% compared with May, when a similar poll was conducted.

13% of the respondents consider the virus was spread in Moldova through 5G antennas. 30% believe the people are infected with COVID-19 when they do a test for the novel coronavirus.

Vasile Cantarji noted that among other spread conspiracy theories is the offering of large amounts to persons for saying that they got the virus or that someone from their relatives died from COVID-19. 33% of those interviewed consider this is true.

22% of the respondents think that the first woman with COVID-19 identified in Moldova ran away from a hospital in Italy and intentionally brought the virus to Moldova. 43% consider the pandemic is a pretext for forming a shadow global government that will manage the whole world.

The survey was carried out during October 10-17 and covered a sample of 1,001 persons who were polled over the phone. The margin of sampling error is of 3.1%.