WHO skipped Greek letter 'Xi' to name new COVID variant Omicron & spare China's leader

The World Health Organization's decision to name a new variant of COVID-19 as "Omicron" has sparked a lot of speculation on the internet, with some wondering why the UN health agency skipped a few letters in the Greek alphabet and went with the 15th. The WHO, however, did not explain openly why it ignored the Greek letters Nu and Xi, which follow after Delta. Delta is the name of a COVID strain that was discovered in India in December 2020 and quickly spread in many parts of the country, eventually reaching Europe and the United States, according to a report by the news agency, Sputnik.

Meanwhile, citing unnamed WHO sources, Paul Nuki, Senior Editor of The Telegraph, stated on Twitter that the organisation skipped the said Greek letters to avoid some confusion related to them. "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! [sic]," Nuki wrote on Twitter. However, the WHO's decision prompted the netizens to post some interesting comments on social media.

Reacting to the UN health agency's decision, one of the users wrote, "Makes sense, frankly (though Omnicron sounds like a brand of microwave) but what happens when we run out of alphabet?  Do we get hurricane names like Bill? [sic]." "Avoid stigmatizing a region? Why aren't they worried that Greece feels stigmatized by having all the variants named with Greek letters? [sic]," commented another.

"And for the next variant they’ll skip Pi coz that’ll upset all the mathematicians! [sic], expressed a third. "Nu and Mu also a common surname in Asia, and Delta airline, so many Gamma/Theta in the world, but no offense, only Xi offense [sic]," read another comment. 

Here are some comments by users:

About Omicron variant of coronavirus

It should be mentioned here that the new coronavirus variant B.1.1.529, named Omicron, has originated in South Africa and it has been classified as a 'variant of concern' by the WHO. The strain has alarmed scientists and the health community because of its complicated genetic sequence. Besides, it is also the most potent type of the SARS-CoV-2 variation found to date. The variant's protein spike has more than 50 mutations, including more than 30 on the spike protein, making it far more transmissible than the Delta version. 

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