Published: November 29th, 2021,
Last updated: November 29th, 2021
The new Covid variant Omicron caused headaches over the weekend, not only because of its spread but also because of its name. This is because the World Health Organization (WHO) had skipped some letters of the Greek alphabet when naming it. Before Omicron, it would have been Ny and Xi. Ny was dropped because it sounded too much like „new“ in English. And Xi? According to the WHO, it was too similar to the Chinese surname, which may not be very common but does have a weighty bearer in the form of the head of state. Critics then accused the WHO of false political consideration. Whether this would also have applied to a variant called „Scholz“ is anyone’s guess.