SARS-COV-2 VARIANTS RENAMED
The WHO released a new nomenclature to denote variants of the Sars-Cov-2 that may make the coronavirus more dangerous in an attempt to simplify their names and discourage the practice of associating these to regions or countries
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VARIANTS OF CONCERN
Established to have attributes that make them ‘fitter’ than the first version of the virus.
| NEW WHO LABEL | PANGO LINEAGE
(MOST COMMONLY USED CODE) |
FIRST
FOUND IN |
DATE OF DESIGNATION | CONCERN
BECAUSE |
| ALPHA | B.1.1.7 | UK (Kent);
September,2020 |
Dec 18, 2020
(VOC) |
Spreads more rapidly than predominant virus |
| BETA | B.1.351 | South Africa;May,2020 | Dec 18,2020 | Shows significant resistance |
| GAMMA | P.1 | Brazil;November 2020 | Jan 11,2021 | Shows some resistance, enhanced infectivity |
| DELTA | B.1.617.2 | India; October,2020 | May 11,2021 | Significantly more transmissible;
somewhat resistant |
VARIANTS OF INTEREST
These are being investigated by scientists at present.
| NEW WHO LABEL | PANGO LINEAGE
(MOST COMMONLY USED CODE) |
FIRST
FOUND IN |
DATE OF
DESIGNATION |
CONCERN
BECAUSE |
| EPSILON | B.1.427/B.1.429 | US (California);
March,2020 |
March 5,2021 | May be more transmissible |
| ZETA | P.2 | Brazil;April,2020 | March 17,2021 | May be more resistant |
| ETA | B.1.525 | Multiple countries;
Dec,2020 |
March 17,2021 | May be more resistant to vaccines |
| THETA | P.3 | Philippines;Jan,2021 | March 24,2021 | Has some of the same mutations as the other VOCs |
| IOTA | B.1.526 | US(New York);
Nov,2020 |
March 24,2021 | May be more resistant |
| KAPPA | B.1.617.1 | India;October,
2020 |
April 4,2021 | May be more resistant, spread more readily |
WHY THE NEW NAMES?
In an advisory issued in 2015,the WHO discouraged the practice of using names that linked a pathogen to a region, people or animals such as ‘swine flu’ and ‘Middle East Respiratory Syndrome’.
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“This may seem like a trivial issue to some, but disease names really do matter to the people who directly affected. We’ve seen certain disease names provoke a backlash against members of particular religious or ethnic communities, create unjustified barriers to travel, commerce and trade, and trigger needless slaughtering of food animals”, it said .
