It is both fascinating and really scary that at least 3 of the most powerful countries in the world leadership is actively pushing disinformation in regard to Covid.
This article goes into how Chinese officials are retweeting conspiracy theories (like 5g is the problem not the Virus and that it is a US army bio weapon) by there diplomats. And the Russia's are spreading it with their bot farms.
https://globalnews.ca/news/6793733/coronavirus-conspiracy-theories-russia-china/
“The 5G COVID-19 theory looks like Russia has started it, and now it is being pushed by the MAGA bots,” said Stephanie Carvin, a Carleton University professor and former national security analyst for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
“But I am more worried by the bioweapon theory. The overarching goal of any conspiracy theory is that you undermine trust in public institutions. And in this case, during a pandemic, it could produce real harm.”
Russian state media and online accounts first promoted the theory that the virus that causes COVID-19 originated from a United States bioweapon in February, Datametrex found.
But when Chinese diplomats tweeted or retweeted an article about the theory, it took off.
With Trump it is harder to know if he has a plan or just makes things up on the spot but given a huge percentage of US and many around the world trust and believe him it is dangerous even if it is not a plan.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90480233/how-an-onslaught-of-lies-about-covid-19-overwhelmed-our-sense-of-whats-true
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/04/trumps-lies-about-coronavirus/608647/
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/03/30/how-the-coronavirus-shattered-trumps-serene-confidence
https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/2020/03/deadly-disinformation-covid-19-trump-america-200321090012632.html
https://www.factcheck.org/issue/covid-19/
It is very frighting that even in a pandemic these super powerful actors on the world stage are still trying to figure out how they can use it to further their goals rather than trying to figure out what is the best way to stop it and protect as many humans as possible.
Please feel free to post any articles about misinformation, or conspiracy theories on the Covid out break. If you have been lucky enough to miss out on the 5g thing and US army thing I'll post them below as well.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/08/tech/5g-coronavirus-conspiracy-theory-trnd/index.html
https://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/blog/2020/04/anti-vaxxers-and-russia-behind-viral-5g-covid-conspiracy-theory/
https://time.com/5818574/5g-coronavirus-conspiracy-theory-inaccurate/
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/03/13/asia-pacific/science-health-asia-pacific/china-us-military-brought-coronavirus/#.Xo9yBMhKiUk
There is also Chinese (and likely others) producing counterfeit ineffective masks and selling them, be careful.
https://globalnews.ca/news/6751303/counterfeit-face-masks-pulled-from-sales-website-global-news-probe/
If there are other stories about Governments (or other groups) trying to spread false information about Covid let me know and I'll add it to the OP.