World Health Organisation renames India variant to Delta variant
The World Health Organisation has renamed the Indian variant, also known as B.1.617.2, as the Delta variant, which is now the most dominant strain of coronavirus in the UK today.
The international health watchdog has begun using a new system for naming emerging variants — the mutated varieties of the virus that have fuelled hotspots in the northwest of England and around the world.
From now on, new variants will be assigned letters of the Greek alphabet in the order in which they are designated potential threats by the W.H.O., similar to the naming of hurricanes.
The B.1.617.2 variant, which has stoked a deadly surge in India, is the first strain to be renamed under the new system.
Scientists will continue to assign technical strings of letters and numbers to new variants for their own purposes, but the new system will be geared towards the general population and press.
The Delta variant, formerly known as the Indian variant, had alerted a new issue that has emerged from the pandemic – the stigmatisation of countries from which new strains are discovered.
The issue has been discussed since the ‘British variant’ and ‘South African variant’ hit headlines.
It comes the World Meteorological Organisation said in March that it would stop using the Greek alphabet to name hurricanes – freeing up the system for a new task.