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Learn why WHO skipped Greek alphabet letters when naming variant Ômicron

The name of the new variant of the Ômicron coronavirus is causing some confusion.

Since May, the World Health Organization (WHO) has used letters of the Greek alphabet to name the variants of the coronavirus. Delta was the most dominant, followed by eight others – including Epsilon, Iota and Lambda – which so far have all but disappeared.

So after a new variant with the cumbersome scientific name of B.1.1.529 was discovered last week in South Africa, viewers could expect the WHO to name it the next Greek letter on the list: Nu.

But the health agency ignored Nu, along with the next letter – Xi – and went straight to Ômicron instead – the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet.

“Nu is easily confused with ‘new’ [em inglês] and Xi was not used because it is a common surname,” the organization explained in an e-mailed statement to CNN.

“And WHO best practices for naming new diseases suggest ‘avoid offending any cultural, social, national, regional, professional or ethnic groups’. ”

Although pronounced differently, the Greek letter Xi bears a resemblance to the Chinese surname Xi – as in Chinese leader Xi Jinping – which fuels speculation as to what may have influenced the WHO to skip the letter.

China has tried to distance itself from the Covid-19 pandemic and has resisted claims that the virus originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

Scientific names for diseases “can be difficult to say and remember, and are subject to inaccurate reporting,” the WHO said in May. “As a result, people often resort to calling variants by the places where they are detected, which is stigmatizing and discriminatory.”

To avoid these stigmas, WHO has avoided associating the virus with specific regions of the world. Some believe that the use of the terms “Wuhan virus” and “Chinese virus” to describe Covid-19 led to the persecution of people of Asian descent.

On its website, WHO said it had identified best practices for naming new human diseases, “with the aim of minimizing the unnecessary negative impact of disease names on trade, travel, tourism or animal welfare.”

This is how this last variant of the coronavirus came to be called Ômicron.

And if even more new variants emerge, there are nine more letters in the Greek alphabet. The next one is Pi.

* Translated material. Read the original here.

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Reference: CNN Brasil

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