'Don't get tested': Shocking coronavirus letter slammed by authorities

Residents of a Canberra suburb have been delivered a disturbing fraudulent letter instructing them to not get tested for coronavirus due to the “imminent danger” of contracting the deadly disease.

Photos of the letter, reportedly distributed throughout Garran, in the city’s Woden district, have been shared widely online by people understandably outraged at its troubling message.

It is directed at “residents near the new Garran COVID-19 testing site” – a pop-up hospital set up on the local oval on Saturday last week.

The letter falsely claimed residents were in danger of “catching COVID-19 from people attending the testing centre, and from leakage from the testing centre itself”.

To “protect” their health, residents were told to “not get tested under any circumstances”, as the letter claimed they were more likely to be infected at a testing centre than anywhere else.

In a bizarre “preventative” measure against having the virus infiltrate through people’s water systems, the letter also told them to filter all water consumed or touched by humans, pets and clothing.

Under an “important facts” heading, the letter claimed the purpose of testing sites was to spread COVID-19 and “reduce [the] global population by 95 per cent”.

It also said they were designed to incite fear and “enable total government control over all aspects of life”.

A list of random statistics were then offered before the outlandish claim that the COVID-19 virus would be injected into the town’s water supply if not enough people contracted it.

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Finally, residents were told to avoid all upcoming vaccines for the coronavirus as they would contain a “UN tracking device”, alleging the flu vaccine “contains harmful devices and poisons”.

Readers are then directed to a website for the homepage of a conspiracy theory documentary.

The ACT Government warned Canberrans to disregard the letter in a statement on Friday, saying it “would like to reassure the community that this letter is not from an official health agency and does not contain endorsed health information”.

“The COVID-19 Surge Centre, on the Garran Oval, started operating as a dedicated testing facility from Saturday 11 July 2020. The centre was designed to the highest standards of infection control and safety for staff, patients and the community,” the statement read.

“The facility has a sophisticated heating and cooling system that filters the air before it leaves the building. A fence will remain around the facility to provide patient and staff privacy, and safety for the community.

“The safety of the ACT community is at the heart of our decision making as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds, and that the safety of the school community and broader Garran community are of utmost importance and have been front of mind in all of the government’s planning.”

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