俄罗斯官方媒体《今日俄罗斯》(RT)报导指出,虽然WHO并未发出官方声明解释此次的命名原因,不过有WHO官员透露,这次命名跳过Nu的原因,是因为跟英文「New」(新的)发音雷同,避免因此产生溷淆。至于跳过Xi的原因,则是避免污名化「特定区域」。you don’t need to be a Greek Alphabet expert to work out why WHO would skip from Nu to Omicron, avoiding Xi…. pic.twitter.com/iTXmuyriWr
— Jim Pickard (@PickardJE) November 26, 2021
美国《华盛顿观察家报》(Washington Examiner)及《全球健康安全议程》(Global Health Security)记者也于推特上,引述WHO官员说法指出,Xi是一个常见姓氏,所以世卫组织命名时会避免对任何社会、国家、地区、种族群体造成冒犯。由于Xi也正好是当前中国大陆国家主席习近平的姓氏拼音,引此也不免引发外界的特别关注。A WHO source confirmed the letters Nu and Xi of the Greek alphabet had been deliberately avoided. Nu had been skipped to avoid confusion with the word "new" and Xi had been skipped to "avoid stigmatising a region", they said.
— Paul Nuki (@PaulNuki) November 26, 2021
All pandemics inherently political!