WHO advisory group explains why it skipped two Greek letters ‘Nu’ and ‘Xi’ and named B.1.1.529 ‘Omicron’

Simon Ateba( Chief White House Correspondent )

Simon Ateba is Chief White House Correspondent for Today News Africa. Simon covers President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, the U.S. government, the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other financial and international institutions in Washington D.C. and New York City.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution (TAG-VE) on Saturday explained why it skipped two Greek letters ‘Nu’ and ‘Xi’ and named B.1.1.529 ‘Omicron’. Some people have argued that naming B.1.1.529 ‘Xi’ would have been associated with Xi Jinping, the President of China where COVID-19 was first detected.