Speculation has arisen over the World Health Organisation’s decision to skip two letters in the Greek alphabet when naming the new Covid variant.
Yesterday the WHO announced it had named the new covid-19 variant of concern Omicron.
The organisation has been naming variants of concern after letters of the Greek alphabet to make discussions about the virus ‘easier and more practical’ for the general public.
The last variant of concern, B.1.621 which emerged in Columbia, was labelled Mu, and many expected the new variant to be called ‘Nu’.
But when the WHO made its announcement on Friday – many were confused why the organisation hadn’t followed its own rules and had skipped not one but two letters in Greek alphabet.
Many started speculating ‘nu’ was avoided because of its similarities to the English word ‘new’.
While ‘Xi’ may have been skipped because of its closeness to the name of China’s leader Xi Jinpeng.
Paul Nuki, a senior editor at the Telegraph said a WHO source had told him it was to avoid ‘stigmatising a region’.
Mr Nuki tweeted: ‘A WHO source confirmed the letters Nu and Xi of the Greek alphabet had been deliberately avoided. Nu had been skipped to avoid confusion with the word “new” and Xi had been skipped to “avoid stigmatising a region”, they said.
‘All pandemics inherently political!’
Metro.co.uk has contacted the WHO is ask why the letters were skipped.
But a spokesperson for the UN health agency told The New York Post Nu and Xi had been avoided for two reasons.
Dr Margaret Harris said: ‘[For] Nu the reasoning was people would get confused thinking it was the new variant, rather than a name.
‘And XI because it’s a common surname and we have agreed [to] naming rules that avoid using place names, people’s names, animal, etc. to avoid stigma.’
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