Why WHO skipped 2 Greek letters to name new variant ‘Omicron’

Re:Why WHO skipped 2 Greek letters to name new variant ‘Omic... by azinman2 on Sunday November 28, 2021 @12:32PM (#29370861)

What’s a professional group then?

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Re:Why WHO skipped 2 Greek letters to name new variant ‘Omic... by xg15 on Sunday November 28, 2021 @12:38PM (#29370917)

I don't know their exact definition, but I'd assume something like all members of an occupation - e.g., a name like "pilot's disease" would probably fall into the banlist.

I mean the whole pandemic is dubbed the "Coronavirus pandemic" - and while that's not an officially designated term, the WHO frequently uses it.

If they had had any consideration for Corona the beer brand, they'd probably have made that known.

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Re:Why WHO skipped 2 Greek letters to name new variant ‘Omic... by retrac on Sunday November 28, 2021 @01:00PM (#29371142)

> If they had had any consideration for Corona the beer brand

They've recently performed well above average, apparently.

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Re:Why WHO skipped 2 Greek letters to name new variant ‘Omic... by grandphuba on Sunday November 28, 2021 @04:58PM (#29373458)

> I don't know their exact definition

So it is not clear contrary to your previous comment.

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Re:Why WHO skipped 2 Greek letters to name new variant ‘Omic... by xg15 on Sunday November 28, 2021 @05:19PM (#29373666)

Because I didn't bother to look it up. (And neither did you apparently)

You can read the exact guidelines here: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/163636/WHO_...

In particular, they say:

Disease names may NOT include: [...]

- People's names [...]

- Cultural, population, industry or occupational references. Examples: Occupational, legionnaires, miners, butchers, cooks, nurses

What it again does not mention is brands.

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