COVID-19 VARIANTS
I thought it might be useful to review the current status of virus mutants. Understanding the development and emergence of these new strains and what should concern us.
The current accepted nomenclature has changed. I spent some time reviewing the nomenclature several months ago and pointed out how some of the names actually referred to the point mutations that resulted in new strains, some names referred to the geneology of the strains, etc. Recently, there seems to have been a consensus of referring to the variants based on the Greek alphabet and in order of their dates of detection.
Using this method, we begin with the “wild type” strain of SARS-2, the original virus that began in Wuhan and then circulated through the world.
The first variant that showed increased transmissibility and, therefore began to replace the wild type strain around the world was identified in September 2020 in England and was named “Alpha”.
In May, 2020, a new variant was identified in South Africa, dubbed “Beta”.
In November 2020, a new variant was identified in Brazil, dubbed “Gamma”.
In October 2020, a new variant was identified in India, dubbed “Delta”.
In December 2020, a new variant was identified in Nigeria, dubbed “Eta”.
In November 2020, a new variant was identified in NYC, dubbed “Iota”.
In October 2020, a new variant was identified in India, dubbed “Kappa”.
In December 2020, a new variant was identified in Peru, dubbed “Lambda”.