WHO introduces new system to simply name coronavirus variants

A billboard in Britain warning against a COVID-19 variant.

(Image credit: Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)

published 1 June 2021

The World Health Organization on Monday said it has come up with a new system for naming coronavirus variants, in an attempt to make it easier for the public to discuss the variants while also not stigmatizing countries.

While scientists will still refer to variants using numbers and letters — for example, the variant believed to have first emerged in the United Kingdom is called B.1.1.7 — the WHO will name them using the letters of the Greek alphabet. B.1.1.7 is now Alpha, for example, and B.1.617.2, the newest coronavirus variant first identified in India, is Delta.

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The WHO wanted to change the system to make it easier for the public to refer to the variants, while also making sure countries weren't maligned — just because a variant is first identified in one region, it doesn't mean that's where it actually emerged from, The New York Times notes. There was talk of forming new words for the variants, but too many that were suggested ended up being very close to real business and place names.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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