WHO avoids Greek alphabet Xi and names new Covid variant Omicron. Here's why
The new variant of Covid identified first in South Africa has been named omicron by the World Health Organization on Friday. The variants of SARS-CoV-2 are named after Greek alphabets, but for naming omicron, the experts skipped two letters Nu and Xi and chose omicron instead. In fact, Nu started trending on social media platforms after the news of a new Covid variant came out as Nu was the possible choice for the name of this new variant, which is believed to be more transmissible than the other variants.
Omicron comes next to Nu and Xi, the alphabets WHO experts have cautiously avoided. According to experts, Nu has been avoided as this alphabet is confusing with the English word new. And Xi has been avoided so that the name is not misconstrued as a reference to Chinese premier Xi Jinping.
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Paul Nuki, senior editor of the Telegraph shared a quote from a source in WHO who said the alphabets have been deliberately avoided. "Nu had been skipped to avoid confusion with the word new and Xi had been skipped to avoid stigmatising a region," the court read, without mentioning the region.
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