It has a name, it’s omicron. Don’t dare to call it the South African variant lest we return to the bad old days of naming viruses after the countries in which they arose. We have even skipped a few letters of the Greek alphabet—one of these being ‘xi’—the reason being that this might cause offence to the Chinese whose glorious leader bears the same name. Not only is the omicron variant on the loose, it’s also over here. Three cases were reported over the weekend which means a staggering 0.00000439% of the UK population are infected. As so often predicted in these pages, further restrictions are being reintroduced. The Prime Minister has buckled at the knees again and, as a first step, masks are back along with two-day Covid testing for all arrivals to the UK. South Africans and those living in several states bordering South Africa are banned from travel to the UK.
We were led to believe, in March 2020, that the end was nigh. Humanity was on the verge of a catastrophe and that 250,000 of us were going to die imminently of Covid-19 in the UK alone. To date the official figure (‘with’/‘of’/‘recovered but hit by a bus’/’falsely attributed’—take your pick) remains under 150,000 Covid related deaths, the vast majority of which were not in young or healthy people. The picture regarding excess deaths over the Covid period is complicated. Many countries have experienced periods of excess death but not all of them attributed to Covid-19 and we can expect an increase in excess deaths due to a series of undiagnosed conditions, including cancer. We have had the delta variant (more contagious but less serious than the original) and even the ‘Yorkshire’ variant. This one swelled the breasts of all those who live in Yorkshire with pride (‘by gum, our own variant’). Sadly, it seems to have been a late April Fool joke. Most of us are still here. Now with the omicron variant we have another attempt to strike terror into the hearts of the nation despite the fact that the South African scientist who identified it did not seem to be too concerned about it. Even Nicola The Brave has told the Scots that there is no need to panic.
But once again, those who enjoy controlling our lives have the excuse they need to start turning the control dial up to eleven once again. Quick off the mark, and true to form, Western Australia has pulled up the drawbridge. The US, at the time of writing with no omicron variant cases, has shut its border to a tranche of southern African countries. Israel has closed its borders completely. However, the variant is appearing almost everywhere now in Europe (seek and ye shall find, of course) and it is hard to see what travel bans will do except great harm to the economies of South Africa and neighbouring states. I can only imagine that Lord Hain PC, the anti-Apartheid firebrand of the 1970s when he was plain Peter Hain and a strong advocate of economic sanctions against South Africa, is now thinking ‘if only I had thought of this’. Even The Conversation, the scientific equivalent of The Guardian, has given space to the view that a travel ban is not the answer. When The Wokeington Post gets on board with the same message—contrary to what President Biden has said—you almost begin to believe it.
Meantime, back in the UK, Sajid Javid is set to announce further restrictions. You bet your life he is. He says we are nowhere near a Christmas lockdown, just like we were not near one this time last year. My guess is that they—the government and its health henchmen—are genuinely worried that people will not comply this time round and that the prospect of widespread civil revolt is real. If they are under the impression that there was widespread compliance last year, then they should have got out of their Westminster bubble a bit more. I think they should be in no doubt this time: if there is a Christmas lockdown, we will not comply.
Opinions from the Unity News Network (UNN) editorial team & various contributors. | UNN always clearly distinguishes between news and opinion pieces and as an open minded outlet we publish views from a variety of people and organisation that do not necessarily reflect the views of UNN or its writers. Articles published under UNN Opinions are always opinion pieces and if published on behalf of a contributor will contain that authors name at the start of the piece.
