LONDON: Britain's biggest free-to-air broadcaster ITV came under fire on April 14 after one of its leading presenters said no one knew whether a conspiracy theory that 5G masts help spread the novel coronavirus was true or not.

Some telecoms masts in Britain were attacked and engineers abused as the conspiracy theory, which scientists, phone companies and the government say is completely untrue and without any basis in fact, spread across social media.

"What I don't accept is mainstream media immediately slapping that down as not true when they don't know it's not true," Eamonn Holmes, a veteran presenter on ITV, said on This Morning on April 13.

"It's very easy to say it is not true because it suits the state narrative," he said.

Britain's media regulator Ofcom said it had received 419 complaints following the comment and was assessing the programme in question as a priority.

Holmes on Tuesday sought to clarify his comments, saying there was no connection between the national health crisis and 5G and to suggest otherwise was wrong and possibly dangerous.

"Every theory relating to such a connection has been proven to be false and we would like to emphasise that," he said on This Morning. "However, many people are rightly concerned and are looking for answers, and that's simply what I was trying to impart yesterday."

British broadcasters such as ITV, the BBC and Comcasts's Sky are regulated by Ofcom in order to guarantee that they meet certain standards.

Britain's cabinet officer minister, Michael Gove, and senior health officials have described the 5G conspiracy theory as dangerous fake news that could threaten connectivity at a time when it is needed more than ever.

"The idea that Covid-19 is caused by 5G mobile phone signals is complete rubbish," said Simon Clarke, an expert in cellular microbiology at the University of Reading.

Telecoms companies including the biggest EE have said staff have been abused and services disrupted following an arson attack at a tower in Birmingham in central England and other attacks around the country.

Vodafone, the world's second biggest mobile operator, has described it as a matter of national security. UK boss Nick Jeffery described his engineers as heroes and urged people not to spread "utterly baseless" stories online.

 - Reuters