WHO proposes to give new strains of COVID constellation names
Expert of the World Health Organization Maria Van Kerkhove said that in the future, new variants of the coronavirus may begin to be designated by the names of constellations, writes The Telegraph.
According to her, this will happen if “there are not enough 24 letters of the Greek alphabet.”
“WHO is really looking at the constellation option,” Van Kerkhove said and noted that the possibility of naming COVID-19 strains after goddesses and gods from ancient Greek mythology has also been studied.
The WHO expert stressed that it was decided to abandon the last option.
We will remind, earlier in the World Health Organization announced the decision to designate new strains of coronavirus with the letters of the Greek alphabet. In particular, the use of letters will help avoid discrimination against the countries where these strains were first discovered.
In July, the director of the organization, Tedros Adanom Ghebreyesus, warned of the threat of a more dangerous strain of coronavirus than the delta variant.
