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    Factors that led to renaming of coronavirus variants, including the one first found in India

    Synopsis

    The WHO list has four "variants of concern". They were commonly being referred to as the UK, South Africa, Brazil and India variants. From now on, they are going to be called Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta — in that order.

    Factors that led to renaming of coronavirus variants, including the one first found in IndiaReuters
    The new names, announced on May 31, are a major simplification over the previous ones.
    The World Health Organisation has decided to use the Greek alphabet to name Covid variants that have emerged in different places across the world.

    The variant first found in India has now been named 'Delta'. Till now it was known as B.1.617.2.

    Why the renaming
    The alphanumeric names that had been originally assigned to variants were quite unwieldy. For reference, one can just look at the name given to the one found in India first — B.1.617.2 — which is as clunky as they come.

    The variant first detected in South Africa — which had more than one name, such as B.1.351, 501Y.V2 and and 20H/501Y.V2 — took this clunkiness to a whole new level.

    Such names are "prone to misreporting", said WHO after announcing the new names. The new names, announced on May 31, are a major simplification over the previous ones.
    What are the variants renamed thus far?
    The WHO list has four "variants of concern". They were commonly being referred to as the UK, South Africa, Brazil and India variants.

    From now on, they are going to be called Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta — in that order.

    There are a number of "variants of interest" as well, which have been assigned new names from the Greek alphabet in the order of their detection by scientists.
    Were there other names in contention as well?
    Yes. Quite a few, actually.

    The decision to use Greek letters came only after long discussions. Also under deliberation were names of Greek gods, and some other "invented, pseudo-classical names", reports said.

    These options were eventually dropped because some of them were already being used by companies or brands. On a lighter note, it also turned out that some easier acronyms being considered were found to be resembling swear words.

    What role did the stigma factor play?
    A major one. Helping places of detection avoid stigma played a significant role in the decision.

    According to a top WHO epidemiologist, "No country should be stigmatised for detecting and reporting variants."

    As a common practice, till now, many diseases were given names according to the regions they were first found or seen in. For example, Ebola — the virus that causes severe bleeding, organ failure and can lead to death — is named after Congo's Ebola river.

    It could be a huge psychological blow to any region if a deadly disease comes to be named after it. One has just to look at how vehemently China tries to deny any Covid connection.

    Another example is Spanish Flu, named after where it was first detected, despite zero proof that it originated there. In India too, there were howls of protest from the government after the term "Indian variant" found its way into widespread use worldwide.


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