Covid strains change their names so as not to stigmatise the countries where they have been discovered

The World Health Organisation (WHO) announced on Monday a new naming system for the new strains of Cofid, which will use Greek letters for variants first identified in countries such as the UK, South Africa and India, reports Hotnews, citing the BBC.

Thus, variants discovered in the United Kingdom will be labeled as Alpha, the one in South Africa – Beta, and the one in India – Delta. The WHO says it has made this decision both to simplify discussion suprets and to remove the stigma of names.

“No country should be stigmatised”

The Indian government criticized early last month the “Indian” strain of the B.1.617.2 variant discovered in the country, although the WHO has never named it that way.

“No country should be stigmatised for detecting and reporting variants,” Maria Van Kerkhove, whose director, wrote on Twitter. She called for “solid surveillance” of new strains and for the sharing of scientific data to help stop the spread. The letters will be used for both the worrying and the interested variants, the list being published by the WHO.

Greek letters will not replace scientific names. If more than 24 variants are identified and the Greek alphabet is exhausted, it will move to another naming system, Van Kerkhove said.

A researcher advising the British government said Monday that the country is at the beginning of the third wave of infections, fueled in part by the Delta (Indian) variant. Vietnam announced late last week that it had discovered a variant that combines Alpha and Delta strains that is very dangerous, spreading faster.