many people see only the effects, even though it is not the absolute main cause that affects the market
Government policies in setting regulations can be the main reason for holding back while waiting for the market to recover so that it's not too risky
It's not, OP is just trying to make it look like there's a connection with the new COVID strain to the dump in price just to put it together with other market. I mean when the pandemic happened, there's not that much hit in the market and in fact it flourished more than anything because people are indoors and have more time online so they are more likely to be curious with cryptocurrency.