Is the Omicron soup causing the WHO's Greek naming scheme to fail?
The World Health Organization is investigating a new COVID variant called “Arcturus,” which is likely causing a new surge of cases in at least 34 countries. The subvariant of Omicron, XBB.1.16, has been named “Arcturus” by SARS-CoV-2 variant trackers and is very similar to the U.S. dominant “Kraken” XBB.1.5, which is the most transmissible COVID variant yet, according to Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's COVID-19 Technical Lead, at a news conference on March 29, 2023.
Arguably, the omnipresent Omicron may have thrown the WHO's COVID-19 variant naming system into disarray. Omicron's rapid growth has made it increasingly difficult for ordinary people to keep up with the dizzying array of subvariants it has created. The WHO originally intended to simplify public communications by assigning Greek letters to variants it deemed threatening. For example, the WHO classified “Kraken” XBB.1.5 and “Arcturus” XBB.1.16 as Variants of Interest (VOIs) on January 11 and April 17 of this year, respectively. However, because “Kraken”, “Arcturus”, and "Centaurus" (BA.2.75, a Variants Under Monitoring (VUM)) are Latinized words, they would cause the WHO's Greek naming scheme per se to fall apart.
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The WHO has upgraded COVID-19 variant EG.5 to a variant of interest (VOI) on August 9, 2023, from a variant under monitoring (VUM), as it continues to become more prevalent around the world. The variant — which has been nicknamed “Eris” (Greek mythology; goddess of discord; sister of Ares) by some media, has been found in 51 countries. “Eris” is a descendent lineage of XBB.1.9.2, which is an omicron subvariant. It was first detected on Feburary 17, 2023 and designated as a VUM on July 19, 2023.