Omicron sparks online meme-fest as netizens react to new COVID-19 strain

As a new COVID-19 variant raises fresh concerns across the world, the internet is flooding with humorous and creative memes ranging from depictions of danger from the new COVID variant to associating the new coronavirus strain with Decepticons- the villainous race from the Transformers movie series. 

Several of the memes being shared online come from the nomenclature of the new COVID strain. The World Health Organization (WHO) has named the variant, dubbed a Variant of Concern, 'Omicron' - the fifteenth letter of the Greek alphabet that appears to have several pop culture references associated with it. 

Netizens share Omicron memes

A Twitter user, who goes by the name, Jano posted a meme with the image of a man swimming in a sea. Layers of waves are about to engulf the man, with each wave depicting a year beginning 2020. A monster, depicting 2022, completes the image as the final layer. In another meme, a dog is captured as he is about to bite a boy. In the meme, the boy jumps, celebrating, "2021 is almost over," as the dog, dubbed 'Omicron', prepares to bite him.  

Here's a look at some more memes: 

EU, US suspend air travel from southern Africa

Due to rising concerns over the Omicron variant, the European Union announced it would suspend air travel from southern Africa on Friday. In a statement, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen advocated activating the emergency brake to prevent air travel from the southern African region.

Similarly, the US announced that flights from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi will be restricted.

(Image: @ohh_its_tanmay/@KHETARAM998/Twitter)