The Covid-19 Omicron Variant: Towards a Fourth Wave Lockdown? Pretext to Introduce New Repressive Policy Measures
Global Research is the object of censorship.
Please forward this article to friends and colleagues, post on your blog and on social media.
***
***
Both the governments and the media in chorus are now engaged in a renewed fear campaign focussing on the emergence of a new “deadly” SARS-CoV-2 variant.
Last May it was the Delta variant (B.1.617.2), which allegedly originated in India. And now it’s Omicron (B1.1.529) which, according to the WHO’s “technical advisory group” was first detected in South Africa. According to reports, Omicron has a “very unusual constellation of mutations”
Anthony Fauci is leading the disinformation campaign, already pointing to the need for restrictions on air travel. Meanwhile US stock markets have dropped amid a new wave of Covid panic.
In a contradictory statement, Fauci intimated that Omicron “is already in the United States but has yet to be detected”.
“I would not be surprised if it is, we have not detected it yet, but when you have a virus that is showing this degree of transmissibility and you’re having travel-related cases they’ve noted in other places already, when you have a virus like this, it almost invariably is going to go all over,” (NBC, November 26, 2021)
“Partial lockdowns” are already contemplated including bans on international travel. The stated intent is to “save lives”.
In the UK, “…there are growing fears” that the newly discovered Omicron variant, “could impact Christmas”.
Rest assured, While “there’s no reason to panic,” says Dr. Anthony Fauci, the new Omicron variant must “be taken seriously and warrants the newly imposed travel ban against South Africa and seven neighboring countries.” (CNN)
A travel ban against Africa, using the Covid-19 omicron variant as a pretext, could also have devastating social and economic impacts on the African Continent, including the disruption of trade relations. Is there a hidden agenda?
Moreover, it is worth noting that throughout sub-Saharan Africa, large sectors of the population have refused the vaccine. The percentage of the population which is vaccinated is exceedingly low. In this regard, Washington is intent upon enforcing the vaccine program in Africa on behalf of Big Pharma. Joe Biden has generously offered to deliver 570.4 million doses of the vaccine to developing countries, a large share of which will be channeled to Africa in the form of “foreign aid”.
The Ban on Air Travel
Preliminary reports (see below) confirm that the ban in air travel is not limited to African countries. Sofar, the US, UK, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Iran, Japan, Thailand and the EU have announced restrictions on air travel.
Moreover, airline stocks have tumbled on the US stock market.
“A new COVID-19 variant discovered in South Africa has markets rattled, and airline stocks are selling off more than most. Shares of Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL), Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV), American Airlines Holdings (NASDAQ:AAL), United Airlines Holdings (NASDAQ:UAL), JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU), Hawaiian Holdings (NASDAQ:HA), and Spirit Airlines (NYSE:SAVE) all traded down by as much as 10% in Friday’s abbreviated market session.”
UPDATE: Chaos and restrictions on air travel, not to mention the ongoing engineered bankruptcy of the airline industry Worldwide. This in turn has contributed to undermining business transactions, international commodity trade and production.
On Wall Street, manipulation, inside information, foreknowledge and speculative trade prevail.
Omicron has contributed to a steep increase of Big Pharma shares. CNN Business
Are We Moving Towards a Fourth Wave Lockdown?
Starting in May-June 2021 extending into October, the alleged dangers of the Delta Variant were used to speed up the vaccination program. “A Fourth Wave” had already been announced for Fall -Winter 2021.
Is a lockdown (comparable to March 2020) on the drawing board, requiring stay at home confinement, social distancing and the closure of economic activity?
As we recall, Dr. Neil Ferguson of Imperial College, London recommended the adoption of the March 11, 2020 lockdown at a time when there were 44,279 “Confirmed Covid-19 Cases” worldwide outside of China. According to his “mathematical model”, (generously funded by the Gates Foundation) the lockdown was intended to save an estimated 600,000 British lives.
“The March 11, 2020 lockdown was heralded as a means to containing the alleged “pandemic”. Nonsense.”
In June 2021, a second authoritative “mathematical model” was put forth by Dr. Ferguson to “justify” a “Fourth Wave Lockdown”. The erroneous “assumption” behind the modelling exercise was that the Delta Variant was “deadly”.
According to Prof Neil Ferguson: “the Delta variant of coronavirus is 30% to 100% more transmissible than the previously dominant variant”. (quoted by the Guardian). What he fails to mention is that virus variants are always “less vigilant” and “less dangerous” in comparison to the original virus.
Detecting Covid-19 Variants
The Variant narrative is based on fake science. How are “the new strains” of the original virus detected and identified?
The methodology applied Worldwide, to detect Covid-19 is the PCR test.
The test, however, reveals genetic fragments of several viruses (e.g. corona as well seasonal influenza). It does not under any circumstances identify the virus (or the variants thereof).
The PCR Test Does Not Detect the Covid-19 Omicron Variant
According to Dr. Kary Mullis, inventor of the PCR technique: “The PCR detects a very small segment of the nucleic acid which is part of a virus itself.” According to renowned Swiss immunologist Dr B. Stadler
So if we do a PCR corona test on an immune person, it is not a virus that is detected, but a small shattered part of the viral genome. The test comes back positive for as long as there are tiny shattered parts of the virus left.
Moreover, there is no isolate of the novel coronavirus on record.
The substantive issue, however, does not solely pertain to the identity of the virus. What is at stake is that the original 2019 novel coronavirus was never isolated and purified by the WHO, which was responsible for the configuration of the PCR test.
In view of the absence of an isolate of the original 2019- nCoV (subsequently renamed CoV-SARS-2), the WHO decided from the outset in January 2020 to use as “point of reference” (in terms of genetic sequences) the “similar” 2003 SARS-CoV virus, which no doubt has mutated extensively over the last 19 years.
Is this 2003 SARS-CoV-1 “point of reference” being used to detect and identify (using the RT-PCR test) the Omicron and Delta Variants of the “original” 2019 novel corona virus (SARS-CoV-2)? Sounds absurd.
The answer to this question is examined below.
Erroneous Assessment by the WHO Technical Advisory Group
The WHO’s “technical advisory group confirmed in a report dated November 26, 2021 that the PCR test had been used to identify the Omicron Variant of SARS-CoV-2 despite the fact that the WHO does not possess an isolate of the original 2019 novel coronavirus, nor is the PCR technique in a position to detect the variants of the original virus (as outlined above):
…In recent weeks, infections have increased steeply, coinciding with the detection of B.1.1.529 variant. The first known confirmed B.1.1.529 infection was from a specimen collected on 9 November 2021.
This variant [omicron] has a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning. Preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection with this variant, as compared to other VOCs. The number of cases of this variant appears to be increasing in almost all provinces in South Africa. Current SARS-CoV-2 PCR diagnostics continue to detect this variant. Several labs have indicated that for one widely used PCR test, one of the three target genes is not detected (called S gene dropout or S gene target failure) and this test can therefore be used as marker for this variant, pending sequencing confirmation. Using this approach, this variant has been detected at faster rates than previous surges in infection, suggesting that this variant may have a growth advantage.
emphasis added
The Validity of the PCR Test
In January 2021, the WHO admitted that the PCR-RT test is Invalid as a means to detect / identify both the original virus as well as the variants.
The contentious issue pertains to the Ct enlargement threshold:
“If the test is conducted at a 35 Ct threshold or above (which was recommended by the WHO), genetic segments of the SARS-CoV-2 virus cannot be detected, which means that ALL the so-called confirmed “positive cases” tabulated in the course of the last 18 months are invalid.
According to Pieter Borger, Bobby Rajesh Malhotra, Michael Yeadon, et al, the Ct > 35 has been the norm “in most laboratories in Europe & the US”.
“Invalid Positives” is the Underlying Concept. What is at stake is a “Flawed Methodology” which leads to invalid estimates of “Confirmed Covid-19 Cases”.
To consult the Full text of the WHO directive dated January 20, 2021
Omicron Reports
Of significance, the country-level reports quoted below confirm that the Invalid PCR test is being used to detect /identify cases of Covid-19 omicron infection among arriving airline passengers. “The UK requires that travelers must take a PCR test and quarantine on arrival until a negative result is returned”.
Health officials in New South Wales, Australia, have begun urgent testing after two people who arrived on a flight from southern Africa overnight tested positive to the coronavirus, [PCR test] Reuters reports.
… Urgent genomic sequencing is underway to determine if they have been infected by the new omicron … variant of concern,” the health department of New South Wales said in a release.
Guardian, November 27, 2021
Switzerland has widened quarantine requirements to stem the spread of the new Omicron coronavirus variant to travellers arriving from Britain, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Egypt and Malawi, where cases have been detected, its health ministry said.
On Friday, Switzerland banned direct flights from South Africa and the surrounding region due to the detection of the new variant while also imposing restrictions on travel from other countries including Hong Kong, Israel and Belgium.
Israel is to ban the entry of visitors from all countries due to the Omicron variant, Reuters reports.
“The decision by the government to reimplement the need for a PCR test from all individuals arriving in the UK from abroad on day two, with self-isolation until a negative [PCR] test is reported, while frustrating for those travelling, is essential in order to rapidly identify cases of infection with the Omicron variant and implement prompt isolation and targeted contact tracing to limit the spread of the variant in the UK.
emphasis added
Guardian, November 27, 2021
Concluding Remarks
Draw you own conclusions.
The deceptive political statements regarding the Omicron Variant are totally meaningless, they have no scientific basis.
The unspoken objective is to justify new repressive policy measures including the vaccine passport as well as the destabilization of the airline industry Worldwide, which since March 2020 is already in a state of bankruptcy.
It is worth noting that the WHO’s report on the Covid Omicron Variant, described as “deadly” was released on Friday November 26, two days prior to Switzerland nationwide referendum on Vaccine Passport (November 28, 2021).
Update: Barely three days after the release of the WHO’s report, the Boris Johnson government announced that:
“The UK’s minimum gap for Covid booster jabs will be halved from six months to three, after the government accepted advice from its vaccines watchdog to speed up the programme to limit the spread of the Omicron variant”.
Timely panic and propaganda in favour of tyranny.
***
About the Author
Michel Chossudovsky is an award-winning author, Professor of Economics (emeritus) at the University of Ottawa, Founder and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), Montreal, Editor of Global Research.
He has undertaken field research in Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and the Pacific and has written extensively on the economies of developing countries with a focus on poverty and social inequality. He has also undertaken research in Health Economics (UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), UNFPA, CIDA, WHO, Government of Venezuela, John Hopkins International Journal of Health Services (1979, 1983)
He is the author of twelve books including The Globalization of Poverty and The New World Order (2003), America’s “War on Terrorism” (2005), The Globalization of War, America’s Long War against Humanity (2015).
He is a contributor to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. His writings have been published in more than twenty languages. In 2014, he was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit of the Republic of Serbia for his writings on NATO’s war of aggression against Yugoslavia. He can be reached at [email protected]
See Michel Chossudovsky, Biographical Note
Michel Chossudovsky’s Articles on Global Research
