Corona variant ‘centaurus’: how an unknown twitterer gave the WHO a nose

Why is everyone suddenly talking about the corona variant centaurus? Because some unknown tweep decided that one day.

–

After the corona variants alpha, beta, gamma, delta, omikron, BA.2 and BA.5, it is now the turn of centaurus. Why? Because a twitterer decided. And then the whole world took over that name.

The new sub-variant of omikron, BA.2.75, is on the rise in India. Among others, virologist Tom Peacock (Imperial College London), who was one of the first to warn about the new omikron variant in November 2021, quickly pointed out the potentially dangerous mutations of that subvariant.

The World Health Organization (WHO) added the variant to the list of sub-variants of omikron that it monitors closely. For the time being, however, the variant did not have its own Greek letter, such as alpha, delta or omikron. This only happens if a subvariant behaves very differently and poses an additional threat to global public health.

‘I decide’

But that was not to the liking of a tweeter. ‘I just named the BA.2.75 variant after a galaxy. Her new name is centaurus,” Xavier Ostal tweeted on July 1. “Just touch it. Today I decide on everything that is pandemic.’

Otale does not have many followers, but the name still became fashionable. Various media picked it up, and BA.2.75 has been known as a centaurus ever since.

According to internet magazine Vice, it does indeed appear that Ostal came up with the name. Centaurus is a mythological figure – half man, half horse – but Ostal named it after the galaxy of the same name. “WHO isn’t doing what it’s supposed to do: naming variants and sub-variants that are more spreading,” Ostal later tweeted. “They don’t want people to get it.”

That an unknown Twitter user comes up with the name of a corona variant is surprising. “I can’t believe that a random guy on Twitter decides that BA.2.75 is now known as ‘centaurus’ and that it still works,” writes science journalist and Pulitzer winner Ed Yong on Twitter.

Duplicate names

Virologist Emma Hodcroft understands. ‘If we or the WHO don’t provide usable names, alternative names will appear. We’re still in luck with centaurus.’ Bioinformatician Cornelius Roemer is even won over. ‘BA.2.75 is still omikron, but significantly different. Why don’t we give double names, like for species.’ If it’s up to him, we’ll name BA.2.75 from now on as ‘Omicron Centaurus’, and BA.5 as ‘Omicron Capricorn’.

The WHO can only moderately appreciate the new name. ‘Message from a member of the virus evolution group (of the WHO, ed.)’, writes virologist Marion Koopmans on Twitter. “Let’s be guided by every headline or tweet? Or are we waiting for real data? I seriously think we need to cut down on the hype about who names the fastest.’

That a variant is named after a galaxy is not a bad idea. The WHO itself mentioned that as a possibility, if the Greek letters run out.

Bioinformatician Tom Wenseleers concludes on the basis of the Indian data that BA.2.75 – or centaurus – spreads faster than BA.2 and BA.5. That makes the variant a valid candidate to follow up on BA.5 with us in the fall. But there are still too few cases outside India to be able to make an accurate estimate, Wenseleers points out.

–