WHO labels COVID-19 variants with Greek letters

A municipal worker sprays disinfectant in Hyderabad, India, on May 29, 2021. (Str/Xinhua)

Many people use the name of the country where the variant was first identified, a simple method for everyday discussions but one that can also create stigmatization for the country's population, according to the WHO.

GENEVA, June 1 (Xinhua) -- COVID-19 variants previously labeled with their scientific names will now be renamed with Greek letters, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared on Monday.

The scientific names of the COVID-19 variants are often difficult to say, hard to remember and can create issues of misreporting, the Geneva-based organization said in a statement, noting that many people use the name of the country where the variant was first identified, a simple method for everyday discussions but one that can also create stigmatization for the country's population.

People walk past a COVID-19 home testing kit collection center in Bolton, Britain, on May 21, 2021. (Photo by Jon Super/Xinhua)

As an example, the variant B117 was often coined as the "British variant" due to the difficulty of remembering its exact name. According to the WHO, that specific strain of the virus will now be called the "Alpha variant."

The existing nomenclatures, created by Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data, Nextstrain and Pango, still exist and are still accepted but should mostly be used by scientists from now on, the statement declared.

The WHO urged governments, media and the general population to use the newly-created system and drop scientific names and countries of the variants' first identification in their communications.