People living near the Canberra Hospital have received a flyer filled with fake coronavirus warning messages and conspiracy theories.

The flyer, delivered to the letterboxes of Garran residents yesterday, looks like it contains an important COVID-19 health warning, but instead alleges that coronavirus is being spread by the government through the water supply, and that a possible vaccination against the virus could include a tracking device.

The flyer also warns residents against getting tested for COVID-19, and that the testing centre — newly located on Garran Oval near the Canberra Hospital — will “spread COVID-19 … and enable total government control over all aspects of life under UN Agenda 21”.

The flyer outlines incorrect “facts about COVID-19 testing centres”, including that 30 per cent of people who attended a testing centre were given COVID-19 in the testing process.

Some locals like Ivan were alarmed to received the flyer in their letterboxes.

He told the ABC that he was concerned about his elderly neighbours.

“There’s a lot of old people in the area and I don’t know what they might think,” he said.

“I’m actually going to refer it to police.”

Another resident, Brian, was concerned that people, already fatigued by coronavirus information, might think the flyer was legitimate.

“It’s somebody’s idea of a sick joke,” he told ABC Radio Canberra.

“But if English is not your first language or you’ve been barraged by all this information, I would hate for anyone to take it seriously.”

The ACT Government was quick to condemn the flyer as “as far-fetched lies”, and said a number of people had been in contact with ACT Policing about it.

“It really is conspiracy theory stuff of mammoth proportions,” ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said.

“It’s very irresponsible to produce this kind of material.”

Ms Stephen-Smith said it was unclear who distributed the flyer, but confirmed the matter would be dealt with by ACT Policing rather than the Government.

She also implored recipients to disregard the potentially dangerous messages in the flyer.

“It is dangerous misinformation,” she said.

“The COVID-19 testing centres are really safe facilities, we’ve been at pains to communicate [that] with local communities and particularly with Garran residents, when we decided to open the testing facility.

“I think the Garran community won’t be taken in by this, but it does add potentially to the level of anxiety. This is already a time of great uncertainty for people.”

Reliable coronavirus information can be found on the ACT Government’s COVID-19 website, and anyone experiencing coronavirus symptoms should get tested.

There are five active cases of coronavirus in the ACT currently, and almost 40,000 Canberrans have tested negative to COVID-19 so far.