As more variants continue to pop up globally, what will happen when the Greek alphabet runs out of letters to call them? A decision made by the World Health Organization began naming variants after Greek letters once they became “variants of concern” or “interest.”
With only 24 letters in the Greek alphabet, the WHO will need to use a different method to name new variants as more continue to pop up. The WHO decided not to use the country of origin for variants as some started to be persecuted for it.
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Maria Van Kerkhove, the coronavirus lead at the WHO, shared that once the Greek letters run out and Omega, the last letter in the alphabet, is named, a new system will be announced, STAT News reported
As for what that system will be next, it is not confirmed, but a report from Reuters ruled out several categories.
Mark Pallen, a bacteriologist, was part of the deliberations when deciding on a naming convention. At one point, the list of naming systems included Greek gods and goddesses, plants, fruits, and lost religions.
When deciding on the Greek alphabet, an issue the WHO ran into was companies and brands already using letters as names, WFLA reported.
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One report from the beginning of the month found that the WHO may use the names of constellations for variants after being halfway through the Greek alphabet.
Van Kerkhove made the announcement saying that the WHO was reviewing proposals so that new names would not cause any upset to the public.
“While they have their advantages, these scientific names can be difficult to say and recall, and are prone to misreporting. As a result, people often resort to calling variants by the places where they are detected, which is stigmatizing and discriminatory,” the WHO said, WFLA reported.
