COVID-19 Variants: WHO Announces New System for Naming All Troubling Strains

The World Health Organization yesterday announced that COVID-19 variants are to be identified by the Greek alphabet's letters to prevent stigmatizing countries where they were originally detected.

A ScienceAlert report specified that the new system applies to "variants of concern," the most worrying of which four are in transmission, plus the second-level variants of interest being traced.

According to the WHO's COVID-19 technical lead, Maria Karkhove, the said new system will not serve as a replacement for the current scientific names, although it is aimed to aid in public discussion.

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Names Under the New System

Under this new approach, the variants of concern are said to be taking on the following names: the previously so-called B.1.1.7 or British variant becomes Alpha; the B.1.351 originally detected in South Africa becomes Beta, the Brazilian P.1 on the other hand, becomes Gamma.

Meanwhile, the so-called Indian variant or B.1.617 is divided into sub-lineages of which the B.1.617.7 variant of concern will be called Delta.

According to The Journal Daily, the B.1.617 variant of interest is also known as Kappa. Other than these names, there are two other scientific names currently in use for every mutation, while different geographic names have been employed for the description of a similar variant.

For instance, within Britain, what other nations have been referring to as the British strain is frequently called the Kent variant, the southeast England country where it was originally detected.

The lineage names like B.1.1.7.2 will continue to be employed still in scientific circles, for the information of mutation that their name is conveying.

Defaming and Biased

In a statement, the WHO said, while the said scientific names have their benefits, they can be a struggle to say and remember, not to mention are vulnerable to misrepresenting.

As a result, people frequently resort to calling variants by the areas where they are discovered, which is said to be defaming or stigmatizing, and biased or discriminatory, the statement also specified.

To prevent this from happening and to simplify public communications, WHO is encouraging national authorities, media companies, and others to embrace these new labels.

The global health agency also said, no nation should be stigmatized for identifying and, eventually, reporting variants.

24 Letters of the Greek Alphabet

Worldwide, there is a need for vigorous surveillance for variants, "inc epi, molecular and sequencing" for carrying out and sharing. There is a need to continue doing everything that can be done to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

In early May, the United States President Joe Biden signed a law on hate crimes aimed at protecting Asian Americans who have experienced a surge in attacks amidst this global pandemic.

Anti-extremism groups in the US claim the number of attacks and hate crimes has exploded against Asian Americans since the onset of this global health crisis.

To address this, the WHO has been trying to develop simplified new nomenclature for the variants for many months now.

Essentially, the Greek alphabet comprises 24 letters, although there is no plan yet as to which area to go next, should they be exhausted. Meanwhile, Epsilon, Eta, Theta, Zeta, and Iota have already been attributed to variants of interest.

Related information about COVID-19 variants is shown on the WHO's YouTube video below: