The Telegraph
Coronavirus latest news: WHO wants Greek alphabet names for Covid variants
Exclusive: Give third world extra jabs to stop variants, urge world bodies WHO wants Covid variants to be given Greek alphabet names Half an hour added to school day in Government’s Covid catch-up plans Twickenham scrum as over-18s flock to get vaccinated Global health leaders have announced new names for Covid-19 variants using letters of the Greek alphabet to avoid being “stigmatising and discriminatory”. Experts working with the World Health Organisation developed the labels for variants that are often colloquially named after the places where they are first detected. Many variants of Sars-CoV-2 – the virus that causes Covid-19 – have been identified around the world. They include B.1.1.7, known in the UK as the Kent variant and around the world as the UK variant – but now labelled by the WHO as Alpha. The B.1.617.2 variant, often known as the Indian variant, has been labelled Delta, while B.1.351, often referred to as the South African variant, has been named Beta. The P.1 Brazilian variant has been labelled Gamma. Follow the latest updates below.