Why WHO chose to skip 'Nu' and 'Xi' and named new COVID-19 variant as Omicron

[riversedge]

Good article.





Why WHO chose to skip 'Nu' and 'Xi' and named new COVID-19 variant as Omicron

The naming decision went viral on Twitter, with some netizens questioning the method in which the name was chosen and whether the United Nations health agency had done so in order to avoid antagonising China

https://www.firstpost.com/world/why-who-chose-to-skip-nu-and-xi-and-named-new-covid-19-variant-as-omicron-10169131.html


FP Staff November 27, 2021 13:21:00 IST


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On Friday, the World Health Organisation in their meeting decided to call the new strain — B.1.1.529 — Omicron and deemed it a ‘variant of concern’ owing to a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning.

The naming decision quickly went viral on Twitter, with some netizens questioning the method in which the name was chosen and whether the United Nations health agency had done so in order to avoid antagonising China.

For the unversed, this is what it means.

Typically, the WHO has been naming new virus strains as per the Greek alphabet. This method was chosen by the global health body on 31 May, 2021. The idea was to ensure that variants had easy-to-say and remember labels. The naming system was also designed to avoid geographical stigma being assigned to a COVID-19 variant.

Going by the WHO method, the new strain that was first found in South Africa should have been either named ‘Nu’ or ‘Xi’.
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If the WHO is this scared of the Chinese Communist Party, how can they be trusted to call them out the next time they're trying to cover up a catastrophic global pandemic? https://t.co/wURdLcdqw2

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) November 26, 2021

Epidemiologist Martin Kulldorf, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, too took to Twitter, discussing the naming of the new strain.

He suggested that the WHO had jumped the alphabet and named the new variant 'Omicron' in order to avoid the potential situation of ever having to call a coronavirus variant the 'Xi' strain.

News of new Nu variant, but WHO is jumping the alphabet to call it Omicron, so they can avoid Xi. pic.twitter.com/UJ4xMwg52i

— Martin Kulldorff (@MartinKulldorff) November 26, 2021


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However, Wall Street Journal's columnist Ben Zimmer congratulated WHO for the name.

“Kudos to the WHO for skipping over the potentially confusing Nu and Xi names and going straight to Omicron,” he wrote.

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Link to tweet

?s=20





**The Trumpsters are out in full force blame Dems, Fauci, WHO--any and all!

Link to tweet

?s=20

[nycbos]

1. I immediately knew is that they were tying to avoid offending Beijing.

And when it comes to Ted Cruz said a broken clock is right twice a day.

[LeftInTX]

2. The next one is Pi!!!

Can't wait!!!

[Hugin]

3. I'm guessing they will skip "Pi", too.

I mean who doesn't like Pi? The PTSD invoked by naming a variant after a beloved dessert dish would be mind blowing.

Personally, I'd like to think they skipped "Xi", because, let's face it. Nobody knows how to pronounce "Xi".

[brush]

4. What sense does this make? There are several letters between delta and omicron.

Xi and Nu weren't the only ones not chosen.

[meadowlander]

6. I thought they actualy did have, for example, an Epsilon variant but it didn't take off.

Do we actually know that Nu and Xi were intentionally skipped or is that just Twitter speculation? They could have been duds like all the other ones besides Delta.

[brush]

8. It's winger/twitter bs as, like I said, there are several letters between delta and omicron...

and no one is claiming they were skipped.

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. Mu was used 30 Aug, Lambda 14 Jun

https://www.who.int/en/activities/tracking-SARS-CoV-2-variants/

and at some earlier time:
Former VOIs: Kappa: B.1.617.1; Iota: B.1.526; Eta: B.1.525

[brush]

11. That chart is not clear. What is it supposed to be saying as I don't see variants...

named between delta and omicron.

[riversedge]

13. Scroll down the page. Also it seems some varients are not designated 'of interest'.

Last edited Sun Nov 28, 2021, 04:10 PM - Edit history (1)

https://www.who.int/en/activities/tracking-SARS-CoV-2-variants/


................WHO, in collaboration with partners, expert networks, national authorities, institutions and researchers have been monitoring and assessing the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 since January 2020. During late 2020, the emergence of variants that posed an increased risk to global public health prompted the characterisation of specific Variants of Interest (VOIs) and Variants of Concern (VOCs), in order to prioritise global monitoring and research, and ultimately to inform the ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

WHO and its international networks of experts are monitoring changes to the virus so that if significant amino acid substitutions are identified, we can inform countries and the public about any changes that may be needed to respond to the variant, and prevent its spread. Globally, systems have been established and are being strengthened to detect “signals” of potential VOIs or VOCs and assess these based on the risk posed to global public health. National authorities may choose to designate other variants of local interest/concern.

[brush]

14. It's still not clear to me that all the letters between delta and omrcon were used.

Is that the case?

[muriel_volestrangler]

17. Yes, I think all were

Also on that page, we can find:

"Former VOIs: Epsilon: B.1.427/B.1.429 ; Zeta: P.2; Theta: P.3"

That's everything, before nu, I think.

[BumRushDaShow]

18. W.H.O.'s charts

have categories (by levels of concern, from highest to least) for each set of variants - https://www.who.int/en/activities/tracking-SARS-CoV-2-variants/

The "VOC" (Variants of Concern)





The "VOI" (Variants of Interest)





The "VUM" (Variants under Monitoring) - includes Kappa, Iota, Eta per the subscript




The "FMV" (Formerly Monitored Variants) - includes Epsilon, Zeta, Theta per the subscript

[riversedge]

22. thanks.

[BumRushDaShow]

23. You're welcome

I was curious myself (although I do recall reference to some of the ones you don't hear mentioned anymore, but now I know why and how they moved them to a different category).

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. Yes, lambda, mu, kappa and so on are down the page

There's "variant of concern", which delta and omicron are, "variant of interest", which lambda and mu are, and kappa used to be (so it was named), but turned out to be not significant.

[Throck]

5. What happens if the Greek embassy calls and expresses displeasure?

[boston bean]

7. My thought was they do so because of the Qanon freaks

Mike Flynn said there would be “new” strain the govt releases to keep the masses under control….

[BumRushDaShow]

12. I heard a report on my local CBS affiliate radio station this morning

that the skip of the "N/v" (Nu) was so that the variant name wouldn't be phonetically the same as the word "new" and the "Ξ/ξ" (Xi) was done to obviously avoid politicizing the virus by inadvertently naming for a region (or in this case, a person, and in this case China since the PM is Xi).

This is actually the first time that W.H.O. is using this system of Greek letter designations (which is also what the NWS uses for tropical cyclones once they run out of regular names).

WHO announces simple, easy-to-say labels for SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Interest and Concern


31 May 2021 Departmental news Reading time: Less than a minute (198 words)


WHO has assigned simple, easy to say and remember labels for key variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, using letters of the Greek alphabet.

These labels were chosen after wide consultation and a review of many potential naming systems. WHO convened an expert group of partners from around the world to do so, including experts who are part of existing naming systems, nomenclature and virus taxonomic experts, researchers and national authorities.

WHO will assign labels for those variants that are designated as Variants of Interest or Variants of Concern by WHO. These will be posted on the WHO website.

These labels do not replace existing scientific names (e.g. those assigned by GISAID, Nextstrain and Pango), which convey important scientific information and will continue to be used in research.

While they have their advantages, these scientific names can be difficult to say and recall, and are prone to misreporting. As a result, people often resort to calling variants by the places where they are detected, which is stigmatizing and discriminatory. To avoid this and to simplify public communications, WHO encourages national authorities, media outlets and others to adopt these new labels.

See the new labels here.

https://www.who.int/news/item/31-05-2021-who-announces-simple-easy-to-say-labels-for-sars-cov-2-variants-of-interest-and-concern

[NewJeffCT]

16. In response to Lyin' Ted

Link to tweet

?s=20

[uppityperson]

19. Xi is a common name in China. Not skipped out of fear but politeness

https://www.newsnationnow.com/health/coronavirus/there-are-several-covid-19-variants-you-havent-heard-of/

NU AND XI VARIANTS

Greek alphabet experts are no doubt wondering why this list stops two letters short of omicron. That’s because the WHO skipped over them and went straight to the 15th letter. The spelling of the letters provides the explanation.

The letter nu is pronounced nee, which could lead to confusion as people read it spelled one way but hear it spoken another. Even if it were pronounced as it is spelled, a WHO spokesperson told NewsNation it sounds too similar to the word “new” and could be confusing.

Meanwhile, xi is a common name, including China’s president, Xi Jinping.

“WHO best practices for naming diseases suggest avoiding ‘causing offense to any cultural, social, national, regional, professional or ethnic groups,'” the WHO spokesperson said in an email to NewsNation.

[bigendian]

20. My names

First contact Covid 19: Original Recipe

Delta variant: Extra Crispy

Omicron variant: Hot & Spicy

[moondust]

21. Good move.

The "Nu virus" would obviously be confusing when heard.

Even though it would be pronounced "ky," the spelling would still be that of the Chinese leader and be magnified and exploited by politicians like TFG, Cancun Loon Cruz, and others who have been calling it the "Chinese virus." Smart to avoid much of that unnecessary distraction/stigmatization.

Why not just call it the "Trump virus"?

[Igel]

24. Not "ky".

"ksy" or perhaps "zy".

As for pronuncing "nu" as "nee", that's strictly modern/medieval Greek.

If we worried about modern pronunciation, we'd all be saying "veeta, yamma, thelta ... mee." And we don't.

And when we got to "pi" we'd all insist on the "pee" variant. Which sounds like "P", so that has to be avoided.

And rho sounds like "Rowe", can't have that, it would offend people with that surname.

Silliness.

Then again, Ghebreyesus relied heavily on PRC support and funding when he was in charge of health in Ethiopia, and on PRC support on getting his current gig.

[moondust]

25. χ - chi - kaai (as in kite)

https://jakubmarian.com/pronunciation-of-the-greek-alphabet-in-english/



On edit, the spelling on paper would NOT still be that of the Chinese leader "Xi" but rather just "X".

[Eugene]

26. As with hurricane names, job one is to communicate, and Greek letters are problematic.

Letters like upsilon, phi, chi, psi carry potential for confusion.

The potentially offending Xi defeats the original purpose of the adopting Greek letters,
avoid naming a variant after countries.