WHO names Covid-19 variants first found in India as ‘Kappa’ and ‘Delta’

TIL Desk/National/Geneva/ The B.1.617.1 and B.1.617.2 variants of the Covid-19, first identified in India, has been named as ‘Kappa’ and ‘Delta’ respectively, the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced on Monday as it named various variants of the coronavirus using Greek alphabets.

“Today, @WHO announces new, easy-to-say labels for #SARSCoV2 Variants of Concern (VOCs) & Interest (VOIs). They will not replace existing scientific names, but are aimed to help in public discussion of VOI/VOC,” Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical Covid-19 lead, tweeted on Monday.

The UN health agency named the B.1.617.1 variant of the Covid 19 as ‘Kappa’ while the B1.617.2 variant was dubbed ‘Delta.’ Both the variants were first found in India. The WHO’s move came nearly three weeks after India objected to the B.1.617 mutant of the novel coronavirus being termed an “Indian Variant” in media reports with the Union Health Ministry pointing out that the UN’s top health organ has not used the word “Indian” for this strain in its document.