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To address stigmatization and racial discrimination, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has introduced a new naming system for Coronavirus variants. The variants are now identified using letters from the Greek alphabet, replacing previous nomenclature methods.
Additional variants have also received new designations, all of which are listed on the WHO website.
The decision to use Greek letters was made to avoid complexity associated with scientific names. Previous designations such as B.1.1.7 for the Kent variant were deemed too intricate for widespread use.
While the new names are intended for public communication, the scientific names will retain importance in research due to their conveyance of specific genetic information.
As new variants emerge, they will be named sequentially using the Greek alphabet. Once all 24 letters have been used, a new naming series will be introduced.
