Despite the presence of the new Omicron COVID-19 variant in 17 countries in Europe, the United Kingdom has failed to take the same punitive action it took against some developing nations, thereby confirming its selective red listing of Nigeria and some other of their largest Commonwealth allies which has continued to attract global outrage.
The move has been described by many as racist, misguided and discriminatory.
Following its discovery at the end of November, the variant has now been detected in at least 48 countries, with 17 of them in Europe, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
As of Monday, Austria had reported 10 cases of the new disease variant, while Croatia and Denmark had reported two and 18 cases respectively.
Also, while the total number of the omicron cases in Finland stood at seven as of yesterday, Iceland had recorded 10 cases; Latvia – four; Spain – seven; Sweden – seven; Switzerland – nine; France – 25; Germany – 15, and Italy – a total of four cases.
Similarly, other European countries that had reported omicron on their soil included Netherlands with a total of 18 cases as of yesterday; Norway – 19 cases; Portugal – 34; Belgium – nine and Luxembourg with just one case.
UK’s failure to red list its European allies reinforces the suspicion that African countries are being targeted by the Western world. The racist undertone becomes even more obvious considering the speed of the action against African countries and the deliberate attempt to tag the virus an African virus.
