The names allocated so far are:
The variant first found in the UK, called B.1.1.7, will be called Alpha.
The variant first detected in South Africa, called B.1.351, will be called Beta.
The variant first identified in Brazil, called P.1, will be called Gamma.
The variant first found in India, called B.1.617.2, will be called Delta.
The WHO said it decided on using the Greek alphabet after reviewing many potential naming systems and getting advice from experts worldwide.
The WHO said the scientific names were difficult to say and easy to misreport. As a result, people often resort to calling variants by the places where they are detected, which is stigmatizing and discriminatory, it said.
How is France tracking spread of Indian variant of Covid-19?
France has reported very few cases of the variant compared to the UK. Some UK media suggest it is because of its advanced sequencing capabilities, meaning it discovers more cases. Is this correct?
1 June 2021
Through sequencing, scientists can analyse samples of SARS-CoV-2 to find out how the virus has mutated and if it has mutations common in any of the more concerning variants Pic: CI Photos / ShutterstockBy Thomas Brent
Sequencing - a word widely used since the Covid-19 pandemic began but whose meaning is lost on most people - refers to genomic sequencing.
The technology that enabled Covid-19 genome sequencing success
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New SARS-CoV-2 lineages continue to threaten pandemic control in England, suggests genomic study
While the spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been curtailed in different regions, the emergence of transmissible variants has led to a peak in the number of cases in April 2021. In the UK, an efficient and widespread genomic sequencing program has made it possible to monitor the rise of such variants.
A new study shows the pattern of the rise of various strains in the UK, as shown by the data collected by the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium. This allows the rise and fall of 62 different viral lineages to be traced through over 300 local authorities from September 2020 to April 2021.