The World Health Organization (WHO) on May 31, 2021, announced a new naming system for the COVID-19 variants of concern and variants of interest. Each variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus will be given a name from the Greek alphabet.
Why will the variants be named from Greek alphabet?
• The Greek alphabet naming system of the variants of COVID-19 will simplify the public discussion with labels and reduce the stigma around the origin country of new variants.
“No country should be stigmatized for detecting and reporting variants,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s COVID-19 Technical Lead.
The labels don’t replace existing scientific names, which convey impt scientific info and will continue to be used in research (& by @nextstrain @GISAID & Pango).
— Maria Van Kerkhove (@mvankerkhove) May 31, 2021
These labels will help with public discussion about VOC/VOI as the numbering system can be difficult to follow.
New Naming system of COVID-19 variants: Background
• Kherkhove further mentioned that the WHO’s Virus Evolution Working Group has been working for the past few months on a nomenclature system for the variants of coronavirus.
• WHO had drawn a group of scientists from the WHO’s Virus Evolution Working Group, WHO’s COVID-19 Reference Laboratory Network, representatives from GISDAID, Pango, Nextstrain (task force responsible for classifying evolutionary development of coronavirus), experts from microbial nomenclature, virological departments from various countries to come up with a naming system of variants of COVID-19.
• The Virus Evolution Working Group worked on several ideas such as creating two-syllable names, combining three syllables, four syllables, considering Greek gods and goddesses names, number variants one, two, three, and so on, but all these ideas were rejected.
• Kherkhove explained that the Greek alphabet nomenclature system currently adopted aims to help the average man discuss and understand the variants of coronavirus in an easier-to-use language.
What are the Greek names of COVID-19 variants?
• To date, WHO has identified four Variants of Concern (VOC) and six Variants of Interest (VOI) of coronavirus.
• The Greek names of the four variants of concern will be:
| Variant | Greek Name | Country of origin |
| B.1.1.7 | Alpha | UK |
| B.1.617.2 | Delta | India |
| B.1.351 | Beta | South Africa |
| P1 | Gamma | Brazil |
•The Greek names of the six variants of interest will be:
| Variant | Greek Name | Country of origin |
| B.1.427/ B.1.429 | Epsilon | USA |
| P2 | Zeta | Brazil |
| B.1.525 | Eta | Multiple countries |
| P3 | Theta | Philippines |
| B.1.526 | Iota | USA |
| B.1.617.1 | Kappa | India |
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