The Covid-19 variant that was first caught by South Africa's scientists was named after the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet, Omicron.

The Greek naming system, announced by the World Health Organization in May last year, makes public communication about variants easier and less confusing. For example, Covid-19 variant B.1.617.2 is known as Delta; B.1.426/ B.1.429 is known as Epsilon, etc.

The next 'in-line' for the new variant from the following Greek letter on the list: Nu. 

But the World Health Organisation (WHO) skipped Nu and Xi and went straight to Omicron, the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet.

Nu is too easily confounded with 'new' and Xi was too common surname, commented Tarik Jasarevic, a WHO spokesman. 

The WHO best practices for naming new diseases suggest 'avoiding offending any cultural, social, national, regional, professional or ethnic groups,' they added.

"It makes it cumbersome to talk about when you're constantly using an alphabet soup of variant designations," Dr Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan, said, adding, "Ultimately people end up calling it the U.K. variant or the South African variant."

Another reason why the WHO has moved to the Greek naming system is to stop the stigmatisation of the countries is was first detected. It is unfair to the people where the virus emerged.

Now many countries, including Malaysia, call for a travel ban for those from South Africa.

But the Omicron variant has probably spread worldwide with cases Australia, Belgium, Botswana, Britain, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Canada and South Africa, reported by Reuters.

Here's what we know about Omnicron far.

A South African doctor who was one of the first to suspect a different Covid-19 strain said on Sunday that symptoms of Omicron were so far mild and could be treated at home.

Dr Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association, told Reuters that she noticed seven of her patients have symptoms quite different from the dominant Delta. She described it as "very mild". Patients also reported being "extremely fatigued, body aches and pain" for two days. 

There has been no reported loss of smell or taste, and there has been no major drop in oxygen level with Omnicron at the time of reporting.

It looks like this Omicron variant does spread rapidly. We don't know whether this Omicron variant will outcompete Delta or whether Delta because it's been so successful, will just push it aside. That's another unknown, said Dr Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, to CNN.

South Africa is one of those countries with a low Covid-19 vaccination rate.

It may take weeks to know if it developed into more severe disease.

Remember to get your Covid-19 vaccination. Get your booster shots if it is made available to you. Wear a mask when you are out. Stay safe.