Why there won’t be a covid variant called Xi

In the early days of the pandemic, it was common for news outlets and regular people alike to speak of the “Wuhan virus,” a reference to where the first cases of the pandemic in China were detected. In May, after a contagious new variant swept through India and then to other countries, the World Health Organization said it would move to using Greek letters to refer to variants of interest or of concern, to encourage reporters and others to move away from geographical descriptions such as “the UK variant,” or the “South Africa variant.” While they have their advantages, these scientific names can be difficult to say and recall, and are prone to misreporting.