Omicron variant already known in May: the hoax of the week

There is not the slightest doubt about the fact that the no vaxes are up to date.

Just enough time to allow WHO to classify the new Coronavirus strain B.1.1.529 with the Greek name of Omicron, and here the first fake news concerning it have already spread.

Although it has been repeated for days that the Omicron variant was first observed on November 12 in Hong Kong, on a traveler returning from South Africa (which is why it is also called the South African variant), the conspiracy theorists backdate it.

Who in July and who, even, in May. Taking a cue from an article in the World Economic Forum or from an elusive table.

And the hoax creation mechanism is always identical. It starts with real news, which however is read and manipulated with art, to bend it to what you want to communicate. And that is, in this specific case, to the fact that the Omicron variant had been snaking around for months, but (who knows why) it was kept quiet until a few days ago.

Let’s see better the contours of the umpteenth no vax hoax, this time on the new Omicron variant of the virus.

The Omicron variant already known in July

There are also some series of newspapers, such as Il Tempo. Who reported that the Omicron variant of Covid was already known in July, at least to experts. And if such newspapers have talked about it, imagine how quickly the news took root on sites and social pages close to the no vax movement, therefore of more than doubtful scientificity.

But how would this news have been motivated? Because the fact that the Omicron variant was already circulating in the summer, we read in Il Tempo, “is demonstrated by an article from the World Economic Forum that explains how scientists detect the new forms of the virus. In the document published on July 12, it is very clear that South African scientists have discovered a new variant of COVID-19. “

The article continues by citing subsequent paragraphs from the World Economic Forum piece that talk about the Omicron variant. Where surprisingly similar things are repeated to those we are talking about these days: contagiousness, type of symptoms that the variant procures, effectiveness or otherwise of the current vaccines.

Yep, surprisingly similar news. Which stop surprising once the truth is discovered.

The World Economic Forum article: here’s where the hoax is

The indicted article, so to speak, was published on the World Economic Forum website on 12 July. And it was called “Explainer: This is how scientists detect new variants of COVID-19”.

All or clear, or almost. Evidently the no vax conspiracy theorists have a selective eyewhich allows them to intercept – of an article – only what can lead to new unfounded news.

Because in the article itself, in the very first paragraph, a truly unequivocal note appears. Which reads: This article was last updated on26 November 2021. That is: This article was last updated on November 26, 2021.

Now it is explained why in the piece there were news about the Omicron variant so strangely similar to what we can read in all the newspapers these days!

Conspiracy calls conspiracy: the date added afterwards

But the no vaxes did not make this truth enough. Here it is popped up who accused the World Economic Forum of adding the date at a later date. To mask the reprehensible secrecy on the Omicron variant kept for so long.

But more than one clue also makes this hypothesis fall. In the meantime, to have a minimum of practice with html, you can check what the code says: “dateCreated”: “2021-07-12T10: 02: 00Z”, “datePublished”: “2021-07-12T10: 02: 00Z ”,” dateModified ”:” 2021-11-27T09: 41: 03Z ”.

Additionally, a link in the second paragraph refers to a Reuters article dated Nov.25 (updated on Nov.26).

The World Economic Forum table

Well: now the conspiracy theorists will have given up.

Not even by idea. Or rather: yes with regard to the article of the World Economic Forum. But here it is in the meantime, a table has circulated on the Net, in which a sort of pandemic plan is reported, with all the names of the variants and the months in which they should have been put into circulation. Even until 2023.

In the table in question, the Omicron variant would not be around the world since last July, but even from May.

In this case the hoax is even more easily unmasked: it is a table without source, next to which some logos have been applied, including that of the World Economic Forum. A similar table, however, had already been released in July.

And woe to say that those who circulated it guessed the names of the variants. Since each new strain is named with a progressive letter of the Greek alphabet, it takes no unbridled imagination or Nobel prize-winning skills to draw up such a “prescient” table.