WHO renames Covid-19 variants first detected in India

New Delhi/Geneva, (the states. news) The World Health Organisation (WHO), amid objections and criticism, has renamed the B.1.617.1 and B.1.617.2 variants of the COVID-19 virus, first detected in India, as Kappa and Delta, respectively.

The world health monitor on Monday named the various variants found in several countries using Greek alphabets to help remove stigma from the names and facilitate public discussions.

“While they have their advantages, these scientific names can be difficult to say and recall, and are prone to misreporting,” said the WHO, explaining the decision.

India last month objected to the B.1.617 mutant of the novel coronavirus that world media dubbed as “Indian Variant”, although WHO has not used the word “Indian” for the strain.

There were concerns in Africa as the South African variant, which goes by names like B.1.351, 501Y.V2 and 20H/501Y.V2 .

“No country should be stigmatised for detecting and reporting variants,” said WHO epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove.

Viruses were called by the country name such as Brazil and UK.

The new labels do not replace existing scientific names, which convey important scientific information and will continue to be used in research.

“The naming system aims to prevent calling COVID-19 variants by the places where they are detected, which is stigmatizing & discriminatory,” the WHO said in a tweet, and urged all to adopt these names as they will ease public discussions about the virus of concern and interest. (uni) (media saheb.com)