Naming SARS-CoV-2 variants

02/06/2021

The systems used by GISAID, Nextstrain, and Pango to name and track SARS-CoV-2 genetic lineages will continue to be used by scientists and in scientific research. In attempts to aid public discourse on COVID19 variants, WHO convened a group of scientists from the WHO Working Group on Virus Evolution, the WHO COVID-19 Reference Laboratory Network, representatives from GISAID, Nextstrain, and Pango, and other experts in microbial virological nomenclature and communication from various countries and agencies. They were tasked with devising easy-to-pronounce and non-stigmatizing labels for variants of concern (VOC) and variants of interest (VOI). The group of experts convened by WHO recommended the use of letters of the Greek alphabet – alpha, beta, gamma, etc. – which will be easier and more practical to discuss for non-scientific audiences. 

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