Claims that the 1963 movie ‘Omicron’ predicted the evolution of the latest variant strain of SARS-CoV-2 are false. The film’s distributor told Reuters the Italian science-fiction comedy about an alien taking over the body of a human in preparation for an alien invasion has no connection to COVID-19.
A Facebook post attempting to connect the movie and COVID-19 is viewable here .
The post contains a screenshot of a film synopsis of Omicron accompanied by image text which reads, “Omicron was a movie made in 1963 about an alien (demon) taking over the human body and eventually the human race. Sound familiar?”
“I’m not Surprised, l guess the evil Governments and the God of science Got the name OMICRON From a science Fiction Movie name OMICRON in 1963. That’s show you how stupid our Governments are,” reads a comment.
The Omicron variant, however, was named after a letter of the Greek alphabet, not this movie (more here ).
A similar post on Twitter is viewable here .
IMDb described the film (here) as a film where “an alien takes over the body of an Earthman in order to learn about the planet so his race can take it over.”
The film (here) has no connection to COVID-19 or the recently discovered Omicron variant.
A representative for one of the film’s distributors (here), LCJ Editions (www.lcj-editions.com/), told Reuters via a Facebook message that the movie was about an alien invasion and had “no link” to any virus.
VERDICT
False. The Omicron variant has no connection to the 1963 film ‘Omicron’.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here .
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.