Why did the WHO miss the letters “Nu” and “Xi” in variable names (now called “Omicron”) – Corriere.it

In the frantic hours leading up to the emergency meeting ofWorld Health Organization Friday, November 26, dedicated to new variable, the vast majority of experts speculated that the name you would give it would be Nu, the letter following mu in the Greek alphabet.

as it’s known, Since last JuneMost worrying virus variants SARS-CoV-2 The coronavirus that can cause the disease called Covid is named after the Greek alphabet. Until then, variants were identified by the name of the country in which they were first identified: but they should be avoidedstigma effect (double: because it was often not possible to identify the country that sequenced the first variant as the country in which the variant was born), the World Health Organization decided to assign the letters of the Greek alphabet to The so-called worrisome variables (in English VOC, alternative to anxiety) NS of interest (VoI, Variant of Interest) in chronological order classified by the World Health Organization as potential threats.

Based on this criterion, the English variant B.1.1.7 has been named Alpha, the South African variant Beta, the Brazilian variant Gamma, delta Indian.

Scholars continue to assign long strings of letters and numbers to new variants of lineage classifications: but when a variant is classified as a VoC or VoI, it polarizes the nomenclature with the Greek alphabet.

After delta, three other variables were classified as VoC: Lambda, Epsilon, and Mu (all three VoIs, of interest but not of concern).

Until Friday the message will be No: But who decided to skip it. Not only that: The United Nations has also skipped the next letter, the something.

Motivation, as shown in Courier service By a spokesperson for the World Health Organization Margaret HarrisIt’s about two different reasons.

No, behold Ditto Harris, It sounds, in English, very similar to the word “new”, that’s new. In short: The English-speaking scientist had found himself hearing two very similar sounds in a sentence in which he spoke of “the new Nu variant”, and he thought it was just a new variant, not the name of that variant.

For Shi, it’s different: Shi, Harris explains, very popular nickname. Our guidelines dictate not to use names that may harm cultural, social, national, regional, professional or ethnic groups.

It explained a lot how The surname Xi is very popular in China – A country is already at the center of massive geopolitical controversies over the origin of the virus – and this, in particular, is that country’s head of state, the president Xi Jinping. In other words: summoning the new alternative Eleventh alternative It could have generated an unintended anti-China media backlash. For this, the World Health Organization decided to choose the name Omicron.

He may be aware that even this choice may stir up controversy among those – Come on President Donald Trump The World Health Organization has always been considered pro-China.