By the end of November, 2021 the world was alerted of a new covid-19 variant: Omicron. This new virus, according to the World Health Organization, has over 50 mutations from the original coronavirus that might bring concerns regarding immunity and vaccine reactions.
But, how did it get its name? Well, the W.H.O has a very unique way to name diseases and in the case of the new SARS-coV-2 virus, it chose to name each variant after letters of the Greek alphabet.
This was decided because it was a simple method, easy to say and remember.
The W.H.O also mentioned that it urged the public and media to avoid referring to variants by the place it first was spotted or emerged, thus it might be “stigmatizing and discriminatory”, according to its website.
What does Omicron mean?
Literally, this word means “small o” and is an antonym of omega.
Omicron is also used as the value 70 in Greek numerals.
It has been used in sciences such as mathematics and astronomy, where it is used to name the fifteenth star in a constellation group, like omicron Andromedae or Omicron Persei.
Why is the new variant called Omicron?
Omicron refers to the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet and it was decided to be the name of the B.1.1.529. covid-19 variant.
Today, there are seven “variants of interest” or of concern that have a Greek letter as a name, as the W.H.O tracking page shows. Amongst these are Alpha, Beta, Gamma, or Delta, which refers to the variant B.1.617.2.
Certainly, these names are easier to remember than their scientific label.
However, the world organization has had to skip some letters in order to avoid speculations or confusion, such as “Xi”, the 14th Greek letter that could make reference to the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, or “Nu”, the 13th that could be confused with the word “new”.