pop up message that safari is infected

No matter how they appear, it's a scam.

If these are sliding in the from the top right of the screen, a site you visited has given itself permission to send push notifications.

Open Safari's preferences. Click on the Websites tab and then scroll down to Notifications. Clear any entries in the right hand window. You might find something similar in the Pop-up Windows heading below that. Block any you don't recognize.

Then if you want, uncheck the box below as shown here.

I personally can't think of any reason why I would ever want any website to push notices to me.

Thank you, this recently started happening to me, I knew it was a click bait scam but wasn't sure as to how to stop it.

Thanks for your knowledge!

Go Well