False: A book being sold on Amazon about the Omicron variant has a copyright date of 2020, a year before the variant was first reported.

The text and the author do not appear to be legitimate. A meme doing the rounds on Facebook notes that a book sold on Amazon about the Omicron variant has a copyright date of 2020. It implies that there must be a coverup around the origins of Omicron, as the first cases of the virus were not reported until November 2021. However, neither the book nor its author is legitimate, so the supposed copyright date is not valid. One post of the meme has been viewed over 33,000 times in the past 24 hours on Facebook and has been shared over 1,000 times (as of December 15). Several Twitter users have also mentioned the book and its suspicious copyright date. Anyone can publish a book on Amazon. Whereas a traditional publishing company would require an author to persuade editors to grant them a contract, Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) allows users to set up an account and upload text within minutes, regardless of its content. It is true that the “UNDERSTANDING OMICRON VARIANT: All You Need To Know About Omicron Variant, Where It Comes From, Answers To Questions You Have, And Lots More Update To Keep You Well Informed”, allegedly written by Dr. Theresa Bishop, is a listed book on Amazon. A free sample of the text reveals a copyright date of December 2020. The book is not being sold elsewhere. A quick search does not provide any promotional material on the book or any information on Bishop. The alleged author writes on the Amazon page: “My name is Dr. Theresa Bishop, and I conducted many studies on the covid19 virus at its early stage last year. Having handled a lot of patients during the outbreak of the covid19 various, I have come to understand a lot about the virus, and now this Omicron variant is research in progress.” However, there are no published studies on COVID-19 by someone of this name. The title, and the text itself within the sample, are poorly written and contain repetitions and grammatical errors, while some paragraphs are completely nonsensical. One section notes, for example: “The virus that result to the emergence of SARS is SARS-COV 2. The virus that while the virus that result to the emergence of VOC is SARS-CoV 2 (sic).” Another sentence reads: “There have been Several studies are in ongoing [...] Additional moree and more findings will be shared with member countries (sic).” Furthermore, little is known about the Omicron variant, and studies are still ongoing, so it is highly unlikely that a physician would publish a text on the topic. It is clear that the information within this book is entirely fabricated, including the copyright date, and the Amazon page for the title has now been deleted. The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that Omicron is a variant of concern on November 26, 2021. There is no additional information on the origins of the post. Logically will update this fact check if more information becomes available. The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a lot of potentially dangerous misinformation. For reliable advice on COVID-19, including symptoms, prevention, and available treatment, please refer to the World Health Organization or your national healthcare authority.