The signs are everywhere; ominous and obvious. They are all over. We can perceive them. Even the blind can see and the deaf can hear.
Without any fear of contradiction, COVID-19 has moved up. It has changed colouration. It has assumed the status of a viable and potent global political/economic weapon.
That was the intention ab initio when COVID-19 debuted in Wuhan, China. The January 7, 2020, date has become our unwanted cross. It is haunting and hurting us. That exactly is what they wanted it to be.
COVID-19 first appeared as infections from SARS-CoV-2. Its cousins before it were Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Usually Mild Respiratory Illness.
All these came, saw but were defeated. Not COVID-19. It has stubbornly refused to leave us alone. The more we tried to free ourselves from its jaws, the deeper we sank into its dreaded belly.
Things are not looking better. We get worse by the day. Hopelessness has set in. We are confused and in disarray. Where do we go from here? Nowhere in particular!
COVID-19 did its deadly kick-off in Wuhan, the heartland of China. A huge city inhabited by 10.7 million people. It serves as the capital of Hubei Province.
Since then, COVID-19 has come a pretty long way. It metamorphosed rapidly and tremendously. It has undergone some strange and frightening phases.
It is unrelenting. And there’s no stopping it. It is speedy in ascending degrees. It won’t slow down, making matters messier for us. We are in for harder and harsher times.
On its dirty and ugly heels are all forms of waves and variants. At the last count, it safely has in its kitty four waves and three variants.
Strangely enough, the wicked ones are still counting, eagerly too. What is their stress? We are forced to painfully wonder aloud.
But they have their (wrong) reason. Very absurd and sordid! And they care nless. They forge ahead in their weird and wild determination. They want to make life miserable for us.
They are overtaken by deep desperation and despair. They want the pandemic to last forever. Can you imagine! They insist we must live with it till eternity.
They are tightening the noose on us. We are being frozen cold. Yet, they scare us that no relief is in sight. They are not expecting better days anytime soon.
For them, this is a long distance race. The very reason they wickedly keep dumping on us variants, strains and waves.
The moment they see us expressing some thin hope, they come hard on us. No matter how cautious the optimism in us, they destroy it with all their strength.
Just when we were expecting an exit, they struck. And it was extremely deadly. We were in high spirits that the pandemic would recede to the background.
Our tormentors thought differently. And they did not hide their heinous feelings. They never planned a relief for us. It was a harder hit. We were not to celebrate but to mourn. They didn’t mean well for us.
So? They told us COVID-19 had moved up. This time around, it came in the mould of a new variant. They chose to label it Delta variant. That was sometime in December 2020.
They laboured hard to impose their new strain on us. It was first identified in India, so they claimed. We were scared the more when they vomited: “Delta is believed to be more than twice as contagious as previous variants. Studies have shown that it may be more likely than the original virus to put infected people in the hospital.”
They were in a great hurry to impress us. They strengthened their claim: “Delta swept rapidly through that country (India) and Britain before reaching the United States, where it quickly surged.”
Convinced that we were not convinced enough, they consulted their crystal ball. The result perfectly fitted their bill.
That encouraged them to moot Delta Plus as a sub-variant. Dr. Yildirim came to their rescue. He graciously provided the needed clue. And they grabbed it instantly. They wouldn’t miss the golden opportunity. They relied heavily on him:
“Delta Plus has one additional mutation to what the Delta variant has. Delta Plus has been reported first in India, but the type of mutation was reported in variants such as Beta that emerged earlier.”
Yildirim concluded: “More data is needed to determine the actual rate of spread and impact of this new variant on disease burden and outcome.”
Still, they refused to rest on their oars. They carried on exploring and exploiting. They won’t give up until they are given up. They intensified their efforts for the wrong reasons.
They went back to their drawing board. They deplored all resources. They did not seek rest for us, so they too would never find rest.
They toiled all night long. They came near it on November 11, 2021, in Botswana. It was even nearer three days later in South Africa. They finally made it on November 24, 2021.
That was the day luck smiled on
them. A new variant of SARS-CoV
2, B.1.1.529, was reported to the
World Health Organization (WHO). They told us the new variant was detected in specimens from Botswana and South Africa.
The WHO was exceedingly excited. And it naively displayed it. It could not hide its enthusiasm. The new strain was their ultimate. They could not hold it back.
On the third day, November 26, 2021, WHO did the expected. It hurriedly christened the B.1.1.529. So entered Omicron variant!
The WHO did not want to take chances. That could be monumental and highly risky. It went some steps further. It classified Omicron as a Variant of Concern (VOC). The United States affirmed that on November 30, 2021. Its first case was confirmed on December 1, 2021.
So, they own it, we don’t. It’s theirs, not ours. But they refused to agree. And they have somehow succeeded in dragging Africa into the COVID-19 mess. They felt relieved. Why? They have given us our own link to the strain.
They claimed this Omicron is the deadliest. This is because they opted to trace it to Africa. Great mischief. This is falsehood. The assertion can’t be possibly true.
See them. They’re flexing their muscles already. They are at it one more time, using it to muddle things up. Sad.
Omicron has become an effective instrument of oppression. With that they harass, embarrass and molest us without caution.
What else do you call Omicron? A variant of colonialism, of course! Yes, the new wave and face of slavery. They call it variant. We call it servitude. It’s neither a wave nor a variant. It is subjugation, colonialism in a new toga.
They are hell-bent on justifying their faulty conviction. This judgment is warped and twisted to our greatest disadvantage. This makes COVID-19 an unending pandemic.
Yet, they are using Omicron to nail us as apes and animals. They have more precarious situations in other lands. They would rather look the other way. And fixed their gaze on Africa. And what they claimed to see was Omicron variant.
The truth is that these racists are still in the shock of their life. They remain in a dilemma as to how we did it.
They are upset we are yet to pick dead bodies off our streets.
Even our own Lai Mohammed did us proud this time around. The Minister of Information and Culture interjected appropriately. He called the bluff of these racial bigots:
“Britain’s reactions cannot be based on anything but discrimination and prejudice. The truth of the matter is that, if the pandemic is not killing as they think it should kill, it’s not a matter of under-reporting.
“I don’t think these prejudicial predictions of deaths in Africa are based on science.”
On spot! Great kudos. Thumps up.
Their predicaments have turned nightmares. That was when variants and waves were springing up in other places but Africa. They didn’t know it was grace.
Yet, they dug deeper and gave us Omicron. That label is strange it’s un-African. It is completely alien to us. To your tents, O Africa! Leave them to their variants, waves, strains or whatever.
We have no portion in Omicron. It is pure deceit.