A viral claim stating that COVID-19 was planned and manufactured by global elites to implement a police state is found to be fake. The bogus claim is based on a document from Rockfeller Foundation called Operation Lockstep.
Ever since the outbreak of the global pandemic in Wuhan, China, in December last year, several conspiracy theories have emerged about coronavirus being a man-made virus . The global pandemic has so far infected over 15 million people in every country of the world.
Operation Lockstep Divides Virus Outbreak Into Three Phases
In the month of July, several users on social media were sharing a document called Operation Lockstep which lists three phases of the global pandemic. The first phase of the document mentions about common cold/flu having mild symptoms at most. It also hints at the media endorsement of mass paranoia and fear, the flawed testing system utilized, which picks up any genetic material in the body and triggers a positive result.
The first phase further talks about the inflation of Covid case numbers, through changing of death certificates, double-counting, and classifying all deaths including other diseases and natural causes as COVID19. 'Lockdown will condition us to life under Draconian laws, prevent protests and identify public resistance,' it mentions further.
The second phase speaks about compromised and frail immune system resulting from lack of food, social distancing, wearing of masks, and lack of contact with sunlight and healthy bacteria. It also mentions 5G radiation attacking the immune system. The third phase lists that in case people will resist vaccine developed for COVID-19, a weaponized SARS/HIV/Mers virus will be released, resulting in more deaths. A war would break out between the vaccine supporters and anti-vaxxers resulting in anarchy from all sides.
The document is being shared with the quote, 'Under the guise of a pandemic, we will create a prison state.'
Truth Behind the Fake Claim
In 2010, the Rockfeller Foundation published a report titled Scenarios for the Future of Technology and International Development. The scenario-planning exercise, funded by the foundation, imagined how hypothetical future events could impact the development of technology.
The report outlined four imaginary scenarios, out of which one called Lock Step, which dealt with a global pandemic, reported Snopes. The theoretical pandemic listed by the foundation originates from Wild Geese in 2012. Within seven months of its outbreak the pandemic kills 8 million in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Central America.
The report neither mentions COVID-19 nor the quote related to the creation of a prison state. The quote is picked from the Wordpress blog envirowatchrangitikei's wrong interpretation of the "Scenarios for the Future of Technology" document, reported the outlet.
