Chinese President Xi Jinping/[사진 출처 = 연합 뉴스]As for the background of the World Health Organization (WHO) naming the new mutation (B.1.1.529) of Corona 19 as ‘Omicron’, there is speculation that it may have avoided the same name as Chinese President Xi Jinping’s last name.
The WHO classified the ‘B.1.1.529’ mutation first identified in South Africa on the 26th (local time) as a ‘concerned mutation’ and named it Omicron, the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet. Currently, there are five variants of concern: alpha, beta, gamma, delta, and omicron.
According to industry sources on the 28th, the WHO has been naming the Corona 19 virus according to the order of the letters of the Greek alphabet. This is to prevent the stigma effect when called as a specific regional mutation.
Therefore, experts predicted that this time, the 13th letter ‘nu’ (ν·nu) or the 14th letter ‘xi’ (ξ·xi) would be in order. ξ is the same as the English surname (Xi) of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
However, the WHO has chosen the 15th letter, the micron. When the WHO broke the practice, it was argued that Xi felt pressure and avoided the fact that it was the same as the ‘Xi’ used to describe President Xi’s name.
Margaret Harris, WHO spokesperson, said: “Nu may be confused with a new variant. ‘, the New York Post reported.
US Republican Senator Ted Cruz said: “If the WHO fears the Chinese Communist Party so much, how can they believe that China will call them when they try to cover up a deadly epidemic?”
Omicron has 32 mutations in its pointed spike protein. It is known that there are twice as many delta mutations. If there are many mutations, there is a concern that the virus will be more contagious because it is more likely to penetrate our body.
The government is planning to deny entry to all foreigners entering Korea from eight countries, including South Africa, from the 28th to prevent the inflow of Omicron into Korea.
Meanwhile, as the world is shocked by the appearance of a new mutation ‘Omicron’, vaccine developers are responding quickly.
The reason vaccine developers are taking such quick measures compared to other mutations is because the possibility that Omicron could invalidate existing vaccines has been raised. “We will move as quickly as possible to find a response strategy,” Moderna Chief Executive Officer Stefan Bansel said in a statement released on the 26th (local time).
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