PEOPLE are having a blast jokingly calling the omicron variant the latest “Omarion” variant after the R&B singer whose name has already made headlines this year thanks to old videos of him going viral.
Omarion, real name Omari Ishmael Grandberry, has been the unintentional face of the new Covid-19 variant, and he’s taking it in good stride.
What are people joking about the “Omarion” variant?
Plenty of people are turning to social media to make light of the latest contagious variant.
“Got my booster yesterday. Omarion already ruined my life once (when he broke up B2K), I’m not about to let him do it again,” joked Netflix writer Sylvia Obell.
“How this #Omarion strain moving through the streets,” joked another Twitter user while posting a gif of Omarion dancing.
“The COVID in my body RN #omarion,” joked another with another gif of Omarion.
“Not the Omarion variant and the booster having a lil tussle,” another tweeted with a gif of Omarion dancing.
Making a reference to B2k Pandemonium, someone else joked ” omarion predicted it.”
“If COVID is Omarion then the common cold is Lil Fizz?” wrote another.
How has Omarion handled the jokes?
The R&B singer is having a blast reading all these jokes about his likeness to the variant.
In an interview with Yahoo, he joked that a laugh is what everyone needs during this time.
“I can’t help but appreciate the creativity of people,” he said of the meme.
“We all need some laughter during these grueling pandemic times that can be dark. While we laugh, stay safe and stay healthy.”
Where is the Omicron variant?
The Covid-19 variant has been rapidly spreading across the world and in various states in the US.
Omicron is now the predominant variant among new cases of coronavirus in England, a new analysis suggests.
There is still considerable variation in the estimated levels of Omicron for different regions, however.
Some 54.2% of a sample of new coronavirus cases across England with specimen dates for December 14 and 15 were found to have S gene target failure (SGTF) – a way of detecting the likely presence of Omicron.
Most samples of Omicron that have been sequenced in a laboratory have been found to contain a slight but identifiable difference from other Covid-19 variants such as Delta.
This difference – a deletion in the S gene – shows up in certain laboratory PCR tests and can be used as a way of estimating the spread of Omicron.
The figures, which have been published by the UK Health Security Agency, also show that 80.8% of a sample of detectable cases in London from December 14 and 15 were classed as SGTF, along with 62.0% in eastern England and 55.9% in south-east England.
North-west England (52.6%) and the East Midlands (51.0%) are also now above 50%.
