Credit: Xinhua/Sipa USA
SWITZERLAND-GENEVA-WHO-WORLD HEALTH ASSEMBLY
NEW YORK (77WABC) – The World Health Organization announced a new naming system for key COVID-19 variants on Sunday, aimed at making it easier for people to remember variants as well as prevent a stigma from the origin location.
Today WHO has announced a new naming system for key #COVID19 variants. The labels are based on the Greek alphabet (i.e. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, etc), making them simple, easy to say and remember.
👉 https://t.co/aYCZfspZyb pic.twitter.com/Gxt14fwVqF
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 31, 2021
The new names, based on the Greek alphabet, are for variants of the COVID-19 virus that are designated as Variants of Interest or Variants of Concern by the WHO. The WHO added that the new names do not replace existing scientific names because they give important information and are used in research.
The labels do not replace existing scientific names, which convey important scientific information & will continue to be used in research. The naming system aims to prevent calling #COVID19 variants by the places where they are detected, which is stigmatizing & discriminatory. pic.twitter.com/MwWGGMXPjn
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 31, 2021
“The naming system aims to prevent calling #COVID19 variants by the places where they are detected, which is stigmatizing & discriminatory,” the WHO said in a tweet.
According to the new naming system, there have been eight different variants across 10 specific dates, ranging from Dec. 18 2020 to May 11 2020. The chart also adds that the first variant was identified in the United Kingdom, while the United States has the most number of variants.
