A video titled “Deadly variant enters the country” is circulating on social media. The title of the video and the first part of the content has been worded suggesting that the Omicron variant has entered the country.
Link to the video – https://youtu.be/hw_N1jJ8YXc
The content of the video says “A person with the Omicron variant has been identified. The 30-year-old person is a foreigner from Namibia, according to foreign media reports. He is currently being treated and investigations are underway. However, the Prime Minister said that the arrival of foreigners will be suspended for a month from today to prevent this corona variant from entering the country. This was reported at the Haneda Airport in Japan.”
The title of the video and the opening of the video suggests that the news is relevant to Sri Lanka, however, at the end of the video it is stated that the news report is from Japan.
Restrictions on six countries
Passengers from South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Swaziland will be barred from entering the country from 12 midnight on November 28 until further notice.
Moreover, passengers arriving on intermediate flights from the respective countries are also barred from entering the country.
Source-https://www.bbc.com/sinhala/sri-lanka-59456470
Current status of Omicron variant
From November 24th to November 30th, the new Omicron variant has spread in 19 countries and they are as follows.
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Botswana, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Portugal, Reunion, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Source – https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/30/map-tracking-the-omicron-variant-interactive
Further read :
WHO – https://www.who.int/news/item/28-11-2021-update-on-omicron
Australian Government – https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert/omicron-variant
Conclusion
This video released on a YouTube channel has been uploaded with a misleading headline, stating that an Omicron infected person was identified in Sri Lanka although the latter part of the video reveals that the news is reported from Haneda Airport in Japan.
There are no reports of any Omicron infected person in Sri Lanka and the video has been posted on the YouTube channel misleading the public.
