The new variant of concern
WHO has named the recent COVID variant Omicron. It is the 13th variant and the latest of five 'variants of concern'. Wondering why it was named Omicron and how these variants are named?
Why was it named Omicron
Omicron is the 15th Greek alphabet and uses the uppercase "Ο" and lowercase "ο" symbols. According to the dictionary, its literal Greek translation means "small o."
Read more: Coronavirus: How strong is the new variant of coronavirus, according to an astrologer
Why WHO is using Greek letters
In May, WHO had announced that it would name COVID variants using Greek letters. Some variants were referred to by the name of the country they were first detected in, but that clearly wasn't the right way of going about it. The reason behind naming the variants using Greek alphabets was to make it easier for the non-scientific community to talk about the variants.
What WHO says
According to WHO, “While they have their advantages, scientific names can be difficult to say and recall, and are prone to misreporting. As a result, people often resort to calling variants by the places where they are detected, which is stigmatising and discriminatory.”
The five current variants of concern
Alpha – B.1.1.7 – first detected in the UK
Beta – B.1.351 – first detected in South Africa
Gamma – P.1 – first detected in Brazil
Delta – B.1.617.2 – first detected in India
Omicron – B.1.1.529 – first detected in South Africa