Creating an uproar, the threat of COVID-22 delivered by an expert has become a trending topic on Twitter. Many people misunderstand this term, and already think that COVID-22 is a real disease.
As is known, the naming of COVID-19 itself is an abbreviation of the disease caused by the Corona virus 2019 (Coronavirus Disease of 2019). The number 19 behind it refers to the information that SARS-CoV-2 was first detected in December 2019.
Quoted from Forbes, the name Coronavirus Disease of 2019 and also its abbreviation COVID-19 was chosen because the name does not indicate a specific location, animal name, or group of people to avoid negative stigma.
People are confused because there has never been any mention of COVID-20 or COVID-21, and suddenly there are many expert predictions about COVID-22 which is called more dangerous.
The Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma, Lambda and other variants are listed on the WHO website as the original SARS-CoV-2 progressive mutation. In other words, all of these variants are derivatives of the initial version that started to spread that caused COVID-19. So where did COVID-22 come from? Netizens are also busy discussing it on Twitter.
Sees Covid-22 trending… pic.twitter.com/QD5HhPpTcu
— Gabe Sanchez (@iamgabesanchez) August 23, 2021
You folks hearing about this, right?#COVID22 pic.twitter.com/y4XCHzCTv8
— Offline✒ (@InkToonist) August 23, 2021
Covid-22???? pic.twitter.com/m6Mi7fmxZy
— Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) August 23, 2021
Before you panic, it is necessary to first understand that the term COVID-22 is a new disease threat that was conveyed by an immunologist named Prof. Sai Reddy, in an interview with the German newspaper, Blick.
In the interview, Reddy reminded the possibility that various variants of the dangerous Corona virus that currently exist form a combination that gives rise to new, more powerful variants that can cause new diseases. Well, this new disease is called COVID-22.
"COVID-22 could be worse than what we are facing right now," he said.
Before calling COVID-22 a threat in the future, Reddy also once reminded that the Delta variant that dominates COVID-19 today is a highly contagious variant. This variant is referred to as 'COVID-21'.
Facts About COVID-22
Many public health experts predict 2022 as the year the COVID-19 pandemic will end. This is in line with what happened in 1918 when there was a flu pandemic that lasted for three years.
Could a more infectious variant emerge next year in 2022? That's definitely a possibility. As long as the virus continues to reproduce and spread, new and more dangerous variants can occur. So, COVID-22 is not a variant or a real disease that exists today. The mention of COVID-22 is an expert prediction that a more infectious variant could emerge next year, in 2022.
Meanwhile, a number of experts have different opinions about Reddy's estimate of COVID-22. Infectious disease expert from Vanderbilt University William Schaffner said even if there was a new variant, it wouldn't be called COVID-22.
"COVID-19 got its name because it emerged in 2019. But all variants that are similar but still different from the original COVID-19 will be named from the Greek alphabet. So if any new variants emerge in 2022 it will likely be called by some letters of the Greek alphabet, not COVID-22," William said.