Scientific names are difficult to recall. The most prevalent variants were named after the country in which they were originally reported: ‘UK variant,’ ‘Indian variant,’ or ‘South African variant.’ The World Health Organization agreed on a new naming system based on Greek letters to eliminate the association with specific countries causing name-calling.
WHO has been using Greek letters to refer to the prevalent coronavirus variants. Following Mu, the 12th letter named after a Greek letter, WHO chose Omicron over Nu or Xi. The two letters between Mu and Omicron were not considered. WHO has good reasons to skip the two letters and pick Omicron. Want to know why?
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