Coronavirus pandemic
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WHO renames coronavirus variants with ‘non-stigmatising’ Greek letters

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June 1, 2021 at 10:43 a.m. EDT
A lab technician tests material from a covid-19 polymerase chain reaction test at a laboratory outside Johannesburg in February, after the emergence of a “South African” variant. (Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg News)

Say goodbye to the “Indian,” “South African” and “British” coronavirus variants.

According to the World Health Organization, they’re the Delta, Beta and Alpha variants now.

The global health body unveiled its new naming system on Monday, saying that it would use letters from the Greek alphabet as “non-stigmatising labels” for new variants.