All the covid-19 variants are getting a new name! To keep track of them and not confuse them, the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced a new naming system.
The UK variant of the coronavirus will be Alpha and, the South African will be Beta. The Brazillian variant will be Gamma and the Indian, Delta. The American variant is now Epsilon and Brazil’s P.2 will be Zeta. The B.1.617.1 found recently in India will be Kappa. The full list of new labels is now on the WHO website. They came up with these names using GISAID, Pango, and Nextrain genetic lineages.
Why are COVID-19 variants getting a new name?
The new labels for SARS-CoV-2 variants of interest and concern are easy to say and remember. However, it will not replace the scientific names as they are will be in use for research and academics. The labels are mainly for helping general discussions as numbers and names of cities or countries can be difficult to remember.
Moreover, “No country should have stigmas for detecting and reporting variants. Globally, we need robust surveillance for variants, incl epi, molecular, and sequencing to be carried out and shared. We need to continue to do all we can to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2,” tweeted Maria Van Kekhvoe, an infectious disease epidemiologist and the COVID-19 technical lead for WHO.
Earlier this week, a researcher advising the UK government said, the UK is in the early stages of a third wave fueled by the Indian variant (or Delta). The Indian government criticized the naming of b.1.617.2 variant as the “Indian Variant” even though the WHO never called it as such. “We’re not saying replace B.1.1.7, but really just to try to help some of the dialogue with the average person. So that in public discourse, we could discuss some of these variants in more easy-to-use language,” she added.