GENEVA — The World Health Organization has moved to make the naming of COVID-19 variants more user-friendly after announcing on Monday that it has devised a new system to identify them.

According to the WHO, each variant will receive a name from the Greek alphabet, in a bid to strip some of the stigmas from the emergence of new variants.

Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's coronavirus lead, said that "no country should be stigmatized for detecting and reporting variants".

She said the new labels for the virus of interest/VOC of concern are "simple, easy to say and remember and are based on the Greek alphabet, a system that was chosen following wide consultation and a review of several potential systems".

Under the new system, the variant first reported in England is renamed Alpha, the variant originating in South Africa is called Beta, the Brazilian variant is Gamma and the variant first reported in India is Delta.

However, the WHO’s established system for naming and tracking the variants will remain in place for the scientific community which will continue to use the nomenclature system based on the virus’ genetic lineages, the WHO said on its website.

Meanwhile, the WHO will maintain a list of variants with their new names on its website. — Agencies