A deceptive “timetable”. A message announcing the “launch” dates of different Covid-19 variants is currently circulating on social networks. According to this document, written in Spanish, the Omicron variant should have appeared in May 2022 and the Delta variant should have been “launched” in June 2021. It also provides for the emergence of a new variant per month until February. 2023.
This more than doubtful table has been circulating online at least since this summer. It has been shared again since the emergence of the Omicron variant, accompanied by comments in English, German, Russian or even Greek…
FAKE OFF
This list bears the logos of the WHO, the World Economic Forum and the American Johns Hopkins University. However, no trace of it can be found on the websites of these three institutions. “It is a false document which has nothing to do with the World Economic Forum”, specified a spokesperson for the institution with our colleagues at the Irish news site The Journal. WHO
also denied any link to this calendar from the US fact-checking site FactCheck.org.
Contrary to what is claimed in this timeline, the Delta variant was first detected in October 2020 in India, according to the WHO. The Omicron variant was identified in November in several countries.
In addition, the variants identified so far by the WHO (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Omicron) have not each appeared one month apart, as the document “predicts”. Alpha was identified in September 2020, over a year ago. Beta was sequenced in May 2020 and Gamma in November of the same year.
It is also difficult to establish in advance the evolution of the Sars Cov-2, as noted it British professor Ed Feil in May. It is complicated, under these conditions, to trust such a list.