When Covid-19 first burst onto the scene back in 2019, the question that some people had was where did the ’19’ come from and what happened to previous ‘iterations’ of the virus.
We have all come to understand that the virus got its name from the year it first appeared, which was 2019.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), virus names are based on their genetic structure and giving them names helps with the development of diagnostic tests, vaccines, and medicines.
Thomas Russo, MD, professor and chief of infectious disease at the University at Buffalo in New York told Health, that Covid-19 is actually an acronym.
“‘CO’ is for coronavirus, ‘VI’ is for virus, and ‘D’ is for disease,… The ‘-19’ is the year when it was first discovered,” he says.
However, a term that has been making rounds all over social media is “Covid-22” with plenty of Malaysians expressing their confusion and distress over the ‘news’.
But what people must understand is that Covid-22 is not really a thing, nor is it likely to ever exist. Here’s why:
Origin of the ‘Covid-22’ term
According to reports, the term first came up in an article published on 22 August by a German publication, Blick. The article was based on an interview with Swiss professor and immunologist Sai Reddy, who warned that a new variant of Covid-19 could appear in 2022 that would pose a great risk to everyone.
He also referred to the Delta variant which emerged this year, as Covid-21 and said that “The Delta variant is much more contagious. This is no longer COVID-19. I would call it COVID-21.”
Reddy then went on to use the term Covid-22 to describe the possibility of an inevitable future variant.
“That will be the big problem for the coming year. COVID-22 could get worse than what we are witnessing now.”
He added that “It is the next phase of the pandemic when Beta or Gamma become more infectious or Delta develops escape mutations. That will be the big problem for the coming year.”
Will there ever be a Covid-22?
Dr William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist and professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, told Health that it is doubtful as strains that are similar to but still different from the original Covid-19—are given names from the Greek alphabet, such as Alpha, Beta, Delta and Gamma.
“If there is a new variant that pops up in 2022, it would likely be called some letter of the Greek alphabet NOT Covid-22.”
In order for an actual COVID-22 to emerge, it would need to be significantly different from the original Covid-19 and still be a coronavirus.
Dr Schaffner added that “Saying that we will have an actual COVID-22 is like anticipating at some point that we’re going to have an entirely different flu strain,” he says. “Yes, it could happen, but we have no idea when or how it would actually happen.”
A Twitter user said that “Covid 22 does not exist and most probably will never exist & is just the opinion of a random Professor in Switzerland.”
Let’s all do our best to check our sources before panicking. We’re all in this together in the fight against the virus. What do you think of this? Let us know in the comments!
Also read: “Face shield with double masks gives up to 96% protection from Delta” Says Health DG
