Some scientists had adopted nomenclature for Covid-19 variants such as a February paper using bird names but it was rejected on the grounds that this could imperil birds and by the mother of a girl named 'Robin'
Nomenclature for variants such as a February paper using bird names was criticised on the grounds that this could imperil birds and by the mother of a girl named 'Robin'.
The World Health Organization revealed the new names on Monday amid criticism that those given by scientists such as the so-called South African variant which goes by multiple names including B.1.351, 501Y.V2 and 20H/501Y.V2 were too complicated. The choice of the Greek Alphabet came after months of deliberations in which other possibilities such as Greek Gods and invented, pseudo-classical names were considered by experts, according to bacteriologist Mark Pallen who was involved in the talks.Another idea to refer to variants of concern as VOC1, VOC2 etc. was scrapped after he pointed out it resembled an English swear word.
But this can be damaging for the places and often inaccurate such as with the so-called 'Spanish flu' pandemic of 1918 whose origins are unknown.
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