New coronavirus variants could be named after star constellations once letters of the Greek alphabet are exhausted, a senior World Health Organization official has suggested.
In an interview with the Telegraph Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical chief for Covid-19, said the UN health agency was already looking at new names for mutations amid fears there will be more concerning variants than the 24 letters of the Greek alphabet.
That system was introduced in late May and so far 11 mutations have been named: four variants of concern, including delta and beta; four variants of interest, such as eta and lambda; plus epsilon, zeta and theta, thought to be “of interest” but since downgraded.
But as the coronavirus continues to mutate, it is possible there will be more key strains than available letters.
Dr Van Kerkhove said star constellations are the current frontrunner to follow the Greek alphabet, suggesting we could one day see variants known as Aries, Gemini or Orion.
Several alternatives have already been dismissed, including Greek gods and goddesses – partly due to concerns about pronunciation.
“We will possibly run out of the Greek alphabet, but we’re already looking at the next series of names,” said Dr Van Kerkhove, who first requested a colloquial naming system last year to prevent variants being linked to places.
“We’re actually considering star constellations,” she added. “We were going to go with Greek gods or goddesses, and I said please, please don’t make me say that publicly.”
The next choice – which won’t affect the scientific names of Sars-Cov-2 variants – could be announced “relatively quickly”. Currently the virus evolution working group and the WHO’s legal team are double checking proposals to “make sure we don't upset anyone with these names”, Dr Van Kerkhove said.
The epidemiologist added that a dangerous new variant is more likely to emerge in three instances.
