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Worldwide
oi-Deepika S
Washington, Nov 27: With the invention of a brand new and doubtlessly extra transmissible coronavirus variant, first present in South African B.1.1.529, many anticipated that the World Well being Organisation would name it the ‘Nu’ variant. Nevertheless, the WHO labeled the brand new B.1.1.529 coronavirus variant as a “variant of concern” and gave it the identify “omicron.”
The WHO has been naming coronavirus variants after the Greek alphabet, by naming B.1.1.529 as omicron, the world well being physique has skipped two letters of the Greek alphabet – Nu and Xi. However why?
Offering a potential cause, Epidemiologist Martin Kulldorf, a professor of medication at Harvard Medical Faculty tweeted, “Information of latest Nu variant, however WHO is leaping the alphabet to name it Omicron, to allow them to keep away from Xi.”
Information of latest Nu variant, however WHO is leaping the alphabet to name it Omicron, to allow them to keep away from Xi. pic.twitter.com/UJ4xMwg52i
— Martin Kulldorff (@MartinKulldorff) November 26, 2021
Airing comparable view, Paul Nuki, senior editor at The Telegraph, claimed {that a} WHO supply had confirmed the letters Nu and Xi have been skipped to keep away from confusion with the phrase ‘new’ and stigmatisation of China respectively.
A WHO supply confirmed the letters Nu and Xi of the Greek alphabet had been intentionally prevented. Nu had been skipped to keep away from confusion with the phrase “new” and Xi had been skipped to “keep away from stigmatising a area”, they stated.
All pandemics inherently political!
— Paul Nuki (@PaulNuki) November 26, 2021
What does Omicron imply?
Omicron is the fifteenth letter of the Greek alphabet. Within the system of Greek numerals it has a worth of 70. This letter is derived from the Phoenician letter ayin Phoenician ayin.svg. In classical Greek, omicron represented the sound in distinction to omega and ου. In trendy Greek, omicron represents the mid again rounded vowel , the identical sound as omega. Letters that arose from omicron embody Roman O and Cyrillic O.
A “variant of concern” is the WHO’s prime class of worrying Covid variants. The WHO stated the Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution (TAG-VE), an impartial group of specialists that periodically displays and evaluates the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and assesses if particular mutations and combos of mutations alter the behaviour of the virus, convened on Friday to evaluate the B.1.1.529 variant, first reported to the world well being physique from South Africa on November 24.
Primarily based on the proof introduced indicative of a detrimental change in COVID-19 epidemiology, the TAG-VE has suggested WHO that this “variant needs to be designated as a Variant of Concern, and the WHO has designated B.1.1.529 as a VOC, named Omicron”.
Story first revealed: Saturday, November 27, 2021, 16:10 [IST]
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