'Omicron', not 'Nu' or 'Xi': Did WHO skip two letters of Greek alphabet to avoid 'Xi'?

Washington, Nov 27: With the discovery of a new and potentially more transmissible coronavirus variant, first found in South African B.1.1.529, many anticipated that the World Health Organisation would call it the 'Nu' variant. However, the WHO classified the new B.1.1.529 coronavirus variant as a "variant of concern" and gave it the name "omicron."

The WHO has been naming coronavirus variants after the Greek alphabet, by naming B.1.1.529 as omicron, the world health body has skipped two letters of the Greek alphabet - Nu and Xi. But why?

Providing a possible reason, Epidemiologist Martin Kulldorf, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School tweeted, "News of new Nu variant, but WHO is jumping the alphabet to call it Omicron, so they can avoid Xi."

Airing similar view, Paul Nuki, senior editor at The Telegraph, claimed that a WHO source had confirmed the letters Nu and Xi were skipped to avoid confusion with the word 'new' and stigmatisation of China respectively.

What does Omicron mean?

Omicron is the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 70. This letter is derived from the Phoenician letter ayin Phoenician ayin.svg. In classical Greek, omicron represented the sound in contrast to omega and ου. In modern Greek, omicron represents the mid back rounded vowel , the same sound as omega. Letters that arose from omicron include Roman O and Cyrillic O.

A "variant of concern" is the WHO's top category of worrying Covid variants. The WHO said the Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution (TAG-VE), an independent group of experts that periodically monitors and evaluates the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and assesses if specific mutations and combinations of mutations alter the behaviour of the virus, convened on Friday to assess the B.1.1.529 variant, first reported to the world health body from South Africa on November 24.

Based on the evidence presented indicative of a detrimental change in COVID-19 epidemiology, the TAG-VE has advised WHO that this "variant should be designated as a Variant of Concern, and the WHO has designated B.1.1.529 as a VOC, named Omicron".