Of Greek alphabets and Covid-19 mutations

Raju Korti
Greek alphabets can be fun or irritation depending on whether you like or hate Mathematics and/or Physics. My personal experience with them has been partly-exciting-partly exasperating at various levels of engagement with Science. But the World Health Organization has queered the pitch by naming the Covid-19 variants after them. It makes life that much more difficult for someone like me whose education has roots in Maths and Physics.

The virus in India's second wave

The B.1.617.1 and B.1.617.2 variants of the Covid-19 that were first identified in India have been named as "Kappa" and "Delta" by the WHO in its compassionate wisdom. This compassion is not without its undercurrents. I would love to believe that the WHO, often accused as a "stooge of China", has hit upon this mode of nomenclature as the Covid-19 was, and is, believed to have originated from that country. The WHO's specious thinking lends credence by making a concession for Chinese culpability and diverting international attention with consideration for other countries. It is like being magnanimous in sharing the loot when you are caught.

The WHO has another rationale according to which this will make it easier for people across the globe to understand which variant they are grappling with. The earlier variants sounded more like an arithmetic progression that one could not make head or tail of. The Greek alphabets have come in handy but the rate at which the parent virus is mutating, I wonder what the world health body will do in the course of time when all the alphebets would have been exhausted.

It is pertinent that the WHO's brainstorm comes weeks after India voiced displeasure at the B.1.617 mutant of the novel coronavirus being termed an Indian variant. In any case giving a nationality to the virus sounded puerile and insensitive. Showing alacrity, an expert group of the UN health agency recommended use of Alpha, Beta, Gamma which would be easier and more practical to discuss by non-scientific audiences. At the moment we are looking at the Lambda variant.

On a lighter note, I see at least eight Greek alphabets that sound like Chinese names. Mu, Nu, Xi, Pi, Rho, Tau, Phi and Chi are the ones that could be discomforting to the Chinese. The third and the last are particularly embarrassing for reasons that do not need elaboration. The Covid-19 has brought the Greek alphabets from the empyrean heights to the pedestrian terra firma. From once being names of the stars in order of their brightness, they have mutated into an infinitesimal but ominous existence. The ancient Greeks known for their contributions to modern society and widely believed to be founders of philosophy have every reason to marvel at the distance their alphabets have traveled and the wide applications they have found.

How the mighty fall!