'English, Spanish or Covidish': Anand Mahindra 'fed up' with virus variants
PremiumMahindra had earlier tweeted out his stance on World Health Organization announcing a new nomenclature system for coronavirus variants
Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra has had it with the nomenclature of coronavirus variants.
With strains being called B.1.1.7, B.1.351 and N440K, the industrialist stated that children will now have to learn a new language called "Covidish" in schools.
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"Alpha B.1.1.7 Beta B.1.351 Gamma P1 Delta B.1.617.2 etc. etc. And now N440K. I’m fed up & confused. At this rate children will have a new language choice in school. They can elect for English, Spanish or Covidish," he wrote on Twitter.
This came after reports of the N440K, earlier found in the southern states of India, being detected in Gujarat.
The genome researchers have informed that out of 293 sequences, nine have reported the N440K strain in Gujarat. In Maharashtra, 91 sequences among 772 showed traces of N440K strain.
On Greek names
Mahindra had earlier tweeted out his stance on World Health Organization announcing a new nomenclature system for coronavirus variants.
The WHO recently said that it will now refer to the most worrisome variants -- known as “variants of concern" -- by letters in the Greek alphabet to strike a fair and more comprehensible balance.
In line with this, the B.1.617.1 and B.1.617.2 variants of the Covid-19, first identified in India, have been named as 'Kappa' and 'Delta' respectively.
Following this, the Mahindra group chairman took to Twitter to draw a similarity between the nomenclature system and American college life.
"With this nomenclature, the WHO will make Covid sound like a sorority/fraternity of an American college," wrote Mahindra.
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