Why WHO Skipped Two Letters Of The Greek Alphabet In Naming Omicron

2 years ago 326

(CNN) — The naming of the caller coronavirus variant Omicron is causing immoderate confusion.

Since May the World Health Organization has been utilizing letters of the Greek alphabet, successful order, to sanction coronavirus variants. Delta was the astir ascendant one, followed by 8 others — including Epsilon, Iota and Lambda — that truthful acold person mostly fizzled out.

So aft a caller variant with the unwieldy technological sanction of B.1.1.529 was discovered past week successful South Africa, observers mightiness person expected WHO to sanction it aft the adjacent Greek missive connected the list: Nu.

But the wellness bureau skipped Nu, on with the missive aft that — Xi — and alternatively went consecutive to Omicron — the 15th missive successful the Greek alphabet.

“Nu is excessively easy confounded with ‘new’ and Xi was not utilized due to the fact that it is simply a communal surname,” the enactment explained successful an emailed connection to CNN.

“And WHO champion practices for naming caller diseases suggest ‘avoiding causing discourtesy to immoderate cultural, social, national, regional, nonrecreational oregon taste groups.’ ”

Though pronounced differently, the Greek missive Xi bears a similarity to the Chinese surname Xi — arsenic successful Chinese person Xi Jinping — fueling speculation that whitethorn person played a relation successful the WHO’s skipping the name.

China has sought to region itself from the Covid-19 pandemic and has pushed backmost against assertions that the microorganism originated successful the Chinese metropolis of Wuhan.

Scientific names for diseases “can beryllium hard to accidental and recall, and are prone to misreporting,” WHO said successful May. “As a result, radical often edifice to calling variants by the places wherever they are detected, which is stigmatizing and discriminatory.”

To debar these stigmas, WHO has been avoiding associating viruses with circumstantial regions of the world. Some judge usage of the presumption “Wuhan virus” and “Chinese virus” to picture Covid-19 person led to persecution of radical of Asian descent.

On its website, WHO said it’s identified champion practices for the naming of caller quality diseases, “with the purpose to minimize unnecessary antagonistic interaction of illness names connected trade, travel, tourism oregon carnal welfare.”

So that’s however this latest coronavirus variant became named Omicron.

And if adjacent newer variants emerge, determination are 9 much letters successful the Greek alphabet. The adjacent 1 is Pi.

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