Coronavirus variants are to be known by letters of the Greek alphabet to avoid misreporting and stigmatising nations where they were first detected, the World Health Organization (WHO) has announced.
The new system applies to variants of concern – the most troubling of which four are in circulation – and the second-level variants of interest being tracked.
"While they have their advantages, these scientific names can be difficult to say and recall, and are prone to misreporting," the WHO said in a statement.
"As a result, people often resort to calling variants by the places where they are detected, which is stigmatising and discriminatory."
The four coronavirus variants considered of concern by the United Nations agency and known generally by the public as the UK, South Africa, Brazil and India variants have now been given the letters Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta according to the order of their detection.
The choice of the Greek alphabet came after months of deliberations in which other possibilities such as Greek Gods and invented, pseudo-classical names were considered by experts, according to bacteriologist Mark Pallen who was involved in the talks.
But many were already brands, companies or alien names.
Another idea to refer to variants of concern as VOC1, VOC2 etc was scrapped after he pointed out it resembled an English swear word.
WHO renames coronavirus variants with Greek letters
The UN agency says one aim is to avoid stigmatising the countries where coronavirus variants are first detected.
www.aljazeera.com