WHO sees possibility of naming new coronavirus strains after constellations - paper - TASS

Names of star constellations may be used to denote new strains of the novel coronavirus if Greek letters currently used for the purpose are not enough, WHO’s technical chief for COVID-19, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, told The Telegraph.

"We’re actually considering star constellations," she said, adding that the option of naming coronavirus variants after Greek gods and goddesses was also considered, but rejected.

In Kerkhove’s opinion, the 24 letters of the Greek alphabet may not be enough to denote emerging variants of interest or concern.

She went on to say that the next series of names would be announced "relatively quickly," adding that a working group and WHO lawyers are double-checking options to make sure the decision does not "upset anyone."

From May 31, new coronavirus variants of concern (VOC) and of interest (VOI) are named with the use of the Greek alphabet. According to the World Health Organization, the new system will be easy to use, and those names will be easy to pronounce and memorize. Previously, VOC and VOI were named after places where they had been discovered first, and this could lead to "stigma or discrimination." In order to avoid this and improve communications, the WHO urged national governments and media to use the new names instead.

Four SARS-CoV-2 stains are the Variants of Concern - Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta. These strains are associated with an increase in transmissibility, an increase in "virulence or change in clinical disease presentation," or a "decrease in effectiveness of public health and social measures or available diagnostics, vaccines, therapeutics," according to the WHO.

The WHO’s list of Variants of Interest, or those with serious mutations or widely spread, includes the Eta, Iota, Kappa, and Lambda variants.