Misinformation about the G7 Summit: Surge in Covid-19 cases

The G7 Summit held on June 11 to June 13, 2021 in the UK  aimed at uniting leading democracies to help global recovery from the coronavirus and create a greener, more prosperous future. The summit took place in Cornwall.

There is currently a surge in cases in all of United Kingdom and some verified media personalities such as Robert Peston have blamed the G7 summit for this rise. Robert Peston is the political editor of ITV News and hosts the Wednesday night politics show on the network. He has been an active critic of COVID-19 restrictions and extended lockdowns.  

It must be noted that the G7 summit happened on a very small scale with rigorous testing and social distancing measures. Since the G7 summit was a landmark event since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, hundreds of environmental protestors took to Cornish seasides to demonstrate and grab the attention of the world leaders towards the urgency of the climate crisis.

These  climate protestors were not abiding by social distancing guidelines and as per reports, very few were wearing masks. Around 6,500 police officers were called to the countryside to monitor the event.

Since the event was so important, hundreds of journalists gathered from all over the world to document and report on both the climate action protests and the G7 summit.

Dr Ruth Goldstein, public health consultant at Cornwall Council, said that the increase was first spotted at the University campus in Penryn which has no ties to the summit. Therefore, the claims made by Robert Peston are baseless and lack factual data as multiple events were happening in the area at the same time.