Page 210 - The International Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand Vol.XIII-2021
P. 210
The International Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand
Volume XIII – 2021
Figure 2 Greek alphabet of 24 letters
(https://medium.com/@greekalphabet/list-of-greek-alphabet-letters-22bf2f751700)
Figure 3 Various strains of COVID-19 and basic information
Figure 3 Various strains of COVID-19 and basic information
(https://www.voanews.com/covid-19-pandemic/covid-19-variants-be-named-after-greek-letters-instead-locations)
(https://www.voanews.com/covid-19-pandemic/covid-19-variants-
be-named-after-greek-letters-instead-locations) 11
Budsaba Kanoksilapatham
In Figure 3, COVID-19 variants are divided into two categories: variants of
concern and variants of interest. Each COVID-19 variant, as shown, is accompanied
by basic information such as specific countries, dates detected for the first time,
and the species’ genetic code. For instance, the COVID-19 variant of Alpha has the
genetic code of the species as B.1.1.7. At the time of preparing this article, a new
Omicron variant with the genetic code of B.1.1.529 was first detected on November
9, 2021 in Gauteng Province, Botsawana. On November 24, 2021, WHO announced
that this is the variant of concern. Despite the fact that the origins of this new
COVID variant are unknown, it has sparked a global threat, being found to be
quickly infected in many countries worldwide, including South Africa, Belgium,
Hong Kong, Israel, Australia, Germany, and the United Kingdom, not long after its
discovery (Torjesen, 2021).
The first letter of this new variant’s name, Omicron, is the fifteenth letter of
the Greek alphabet. WHO’s announcement of this variant’s name caused some
confusion because two Greek letters from the Greek alphabet, Nu and Xi, were
deliberately omitted. The letter “Nu” was omitted to avoid confusion with the
word “new” due to their similar pronunciation; the letter “Xi” was omitted to avoid
stigmatizing a political leader of a powerful Asian country (Ozturk, 2021).
200 COVID-19 Impact Manifestation as Seen through the Lens of Language Use
