Why Are Indian, UK and SA Variants Named After Countries?
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In December 8 last year, a group of UK Scientists called Covid-19 Genomics UK Consortium (COG-UK) discovered a B117 strain of Sars-Cov-2—the virus that causes Covid-19.
This was quickly named UK variant and about ten days later, South Africa reported the 501.V2 variant which was first detected in the Nelson Mandela Bay metropolitan area of the Eastern Cape province. This was also named South African Variant.
In this year, the Indian and Brazilian variant were detected in India and Brazil respectively. So, all these variants have been given names, though not officially, according to the first country where they were detected.
This can easily cause stigmatisation, and imagine trying to make a conversation with an Indian friend, calling an Indian variant wouldn't be so friendly, would it? Thank god the WHO has seen this problem and took an action.
From now on the WHO will use Greek letters to refer to variants first detected in countries like the UK, South Africa and India.
The UK variant for instance is labelled as Alpha, the South African Beta, and the Indian as Delta.
The WHO said this was to simplify discussions but also to help remove some stigma from the names.
Graphic shows current names for covid variants and WHO's proposed Greek names
Earlier this month the Indian government criticised the naming of variant B.1.617.2 - first detected in the country last October - as the "Indian variant", though the WHO had never officially labelled it as such.
"No country should be stigmatised for detecting and reporting variants," the WHO's Covid-19 technical lead, Maria Van Kerkhove, tweeted. She also called for "robust surveillance" of variants, and for the sharing of scientific data to help stop the spread.
Letters will refer to both variants of concern, and variants of interest. A full list of names has been published on the WHO website.
These Greek letters will not replace existing scientific names. If more than 24 variants are officially identified, the system runs out of Greek letters, and a new naming programme will be announced, Ms Van Kerkhove told STAT News in an interview.
"We're not saying replace B.1.1.7, but really just to try to help some of the dialogue with the average person," she told the US-based website. "So that in public discourse, we could discuss some of these variants in more easy-to-use language."
On Monday, a scientist advising the UK government said the country was in the early stages of a third wave of coronavirus infections, in part driven by the Delta, or Indian variant.
It is thought to spread more quickly than the Alpha (UK; Kent) variant, which was responsible for the surge in cases in the UK over the winter.
Vietnam, meanwhile, has detected what appears to be a combination of those two variants. On Saturday, the country's health minister said it could spread quickly through the air and described it as "very dangerous".
Source: BBC
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