Language Matters | Omicron, Kraken, Eris: how Covid-19 variant naming systems have evolved along with new strains
- Naming of Covid variants and subvariants has gone from Greek letters (Alpha, Delta Omicron) to mythological creatures (Kraken) and now astronomical names
- One of the most recent subvariants bears a significant moniker: Eris, a dwarf planet but also a Greco-Roman goddess insatiable in her desire for bloodshed
We wish each other a happy new year, but we carry over our troubles from the previous. Sars-CoV-2 continues to circulate in the global population, with several new strains evolving.
To classify and name distinct lineages, scientists developed the Phylogenetic Assignment of Named Global Outbreak (Pango) lineages nomenclature, using Latin alphabet letters and numbers, with each dot representing “descendant of”.
Non-scientists, however, had been referring to variants by the country in which they were first detected: “Wuhan virus”, “UK variant”.
In May 2021, to avoid stigmatising associations and to simplify public communications, the World Health Organization introduced its Greek alphabet system, assigning Greek letters to those variants considered a significant new threat.
After Alpha, Beta, Gamma, the dominant Delta and eight other major variants thereafter, this system has become less illuminating.
The Omicron variant, named in November 2021, is still the dominant form worldwide, comprising an enormous collection of diverse lineages – some 1,700 Omicron lineages exist. All are still “Omicron”, because only Variants of Concern (VOC) are assigned a Greek letter.
