Memes Flood Twitter After WHO Dubs New Covid Strain Omicron

20:30 GMT, 27 November 2021

Asya Geydarova

Editor

While journalists have been speculating as to whether the WHO was trying to avoid a feud with China by skipping the Greek letter Xi in naming the new coronavirus variant, netizens have mocked the name itself, which ironically brings to mind the Omicronians — an alien race pictured in Matt Groening’s Futurama.

Sputnik

Social media users rushed to Twitter to exchange reactions to the name of the new South African Covid strain, which the World Health Organization (WHO) identified as one of concern and dubbed Omicron on Friday.

Futurama has been trending after the name was announced, as fans were reminded of the animated show, which featured the Omicron Persian 8 planet and its inhabitants — the Omicronians, in many episodes.

Futurama was not the only association, as Star Trek fans also jumped into the ocean of memes.

Others just complained about yet another ruined holiday season (but we still hope for the best).

Here is another fun fact concerning COVID-19: netizens claim that Matt Groening’s The Simpsons predicted the pandemic back in 1993 in the episode “Marge in Chains.”