WHO gives new, “simpler” names to variants
Gods, invented names were also considered
Geographical names lead to stigma, WHO says
GENEVA, May 31 (Reuters) - Coronavirus variants with clunky, alphanumeric names have now been assigned the letters of the Greek alphabet to simplify discussion and pronunciation while avoiding stigma.
(Please. Stop with the greek letter designations.)
Pango is your friend
The Pango nomenclature is being used by researchers and public health agencies worldwide to track the transmission and spread of SARS-CoV-2, including variants of concern. This website documents all current Pango lineages and their spread, as well as various software tools which can be used by researchers to perform analyses on SARS-COV-2 sequence data.
Each coronavirus contains nearly 30,000 letters of RNA. This genetic information allows the virus to infect cells and hijack them to make new viruses.
All viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, change over time. Most changes have little to no impact on the virus’ properties. However, some changes may affect the virus’s properties, such as how easily it spreads, the associated disease severity, or the performance of vaccines, therapeutic medicines, diagnostic tools, or other public health and social measures.
